Uzumaki Naruto: Seiten no HekiReki!
by Decertos
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto: Bolt From the Blue! Konoha's number one hyper-active ninja is well on his way to becoming the strongest, with the aid of a certain demon fox. With a guide to help him, how much stronger can Naruto be? AU, slight OOC. Extended Hiatus
1. Akinasu wa Yome ni Kuwasuna

**A/N: This is my first Naruto story in a couple of years, but my old one was deleted, because--well, it sucked ass. I don't usually write fanfiction. I'm more of an original-fiction writer, so I guess fanfiction might not be my forte, but I've not given it a proper try before... I guess you could say this is my attempt at it. **

**It'd be nice if I got reviews so that I knew how I was doing with it, ya know... see if I needed to improve anything, maybe use less dialogue and more descriptions, or something like that... or whatever. Any comments are appreciated really, but I'd prefer constructive criticism over flames, if possible. **

**Warning: This is an Alternate-Universe story. There WILL be inconsistencies. Characters MAY seem slightly OOC (this is done intentionally unless said otherwise). If ya like it, ya like it. If ya don't, ya don't. And if ya don't, don't read it. It's that simple. **

**Anyway, have fun reading. **

* * *

Chapter 1: 

_--"Akinasu wa Yome ni Kuwasuna."--_

Uzumaki Naruto had spent most of his life alone. His days at the Shinobi Academy were no exception. He was often found alone, far beyond the groups of chattering children on the playground, or even, as had become all too often to his annoyance, sitting in the middle of a particular circle, ignored and disregarded, as if he didn't exist.

It was this in his early academy days that caused him to be so loud and brash later on. But today was his genin exam. Today was the day of reckoning. Today was the day that decided whether he would take another step forward to achieving his dream or to be forever set back, condemned to a life as a mere civilian for failing the academy one too many times--and oh, how the teachers and villagers would revel in that glorious victory.

_**Today's the day, brat. **_

Naruto scowled inwardly at his eternal tenant. Kyuubi had chosen to make himself known on one of the worst days of his childhood--his seventh birthday. When had lied beaten and broken in a heap of garbage and grime of unspeakable ingredients--he didn't even want to _think_ about what that brown gunk had been that had been so intent on staying in his hair--Kyuubi had given him a verbal lashing rival that of the physical one the mob of villagers had dealt.

_**Why do you just lay there and take all this shit?! **_The fox had said, vulgar langauge and all. Of course, Naruto wasn't new to that kind of profanity--he heard it every day at that time, every time he dared to venture into the streets of Konoha. _Demon spawn, _they called him. And much, much worse. _**Fight back, you stupid brat. **_

And Naruto had protested. _I can't. I tried fighting before. _And he had--many times before. And each time, the villagers had laughed in his face and beaten him harder than before. He couldn't fight back against people twice--and sometimes three--times his size. Especially being weak as he was. With a lack of food and sleep, he was already weak enough. He had no chance against a mob of strong, hate-filled villagers. Strangely, at that time, Naruto hadn't even questioned the origin of the strange, growling voice.

At the memory, Naruto almost smiled. What would he have ended up like if Kyuubi hadn't stepped in to take care of him?

_**I hate you, brat. Don't ever forget that. You're a bastard little human kit just like the rest of them. Don't you think I'm going to pamper you. I couldn't give a damn about your well-being. But like hell if any host of mine is going to be a weakling. **_

And from that moment on, the Kyuubi had trained him. Bt Naruto hadn't given up on the one thing Kyuubi protested against the most--his hand-me-down, tattered orange jumpsuit and his loud, obnoxious personality that attracted whatever attention he could get, good or bad. The Kyuubi eventually caved in, saying, begrudgingly, _**Your enemies will think of you as a loud-mouthed idiot...maybe that will be your greatest advantage, brat. **_

But today was not a day for him to goof around.

_I know, _he said to his tenant, sighing. Resting his chin on the palm of his hand, he gazed out the window as he waited for his name to be called for the examination. He would be second to last, right before the almost-more-obnoxious-than-him Yamanaka Ino. He frowned into his hand. _I'm gonna fail, aren't I? _

Inside his mind, he could sense the Kyuubi frowning at him. _**Don't tell me that Uchiha boy has rubbed off on you. **_

Naruto's left eye twitched. Uchiha Sasuke?! Rub off on _him?!_ Naruto sent a glare in the dark boy's direction. Said boy caught his glare and returned it full force, coldly. _Like __**hell **__he has. _

Kyuubi's laugh rang out inside him. Which was more of a series of rumbling snorts than a laugh, but that's what Naruto had learned to interpret it as over the years. _**Then don't act like it. **_

_I'm not! It's just..._ Naruto glanced at Shikamaru, who sat beside him. He had only returned from his exam a few minutes ago, and had, in unmasked concern, whispered to him, _"The ninjutsu exam is on the _Bunshin_. It'll be troublesome for you, Naruto." _And Naruto knew it would. He couldn't perform a proper bunshin if it meant saving his own hide.

_The test is on the Bunshin... you know I suck at that._

Kyuubi, again, frowned inside him. _**Damn these paws to hell. **_Naruto would have snickered if not for the current situation. _**If only to teach you ninjutsu, I'd trade this body for a human's. **_

_You're in my head, Kyuu. Couldn't you have just changed yourself into a human or something? _

_**This is **__**your**__** head, brat, not mine. **_

_Well, shit. _

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto blinked out of his reverie and stood weakly. _Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why didn't I ask Hokage-jiji for some scrolls or something?! _

_**Because you hate reading. **_

_Shut up! You're not helping! _

Kyuubi did his version of a careless shrug. _**You'll find a way.**_

Naruto doubted that.

"Alright, Naruto-kun," Iruka said to him, smiling kindly. "The ninjutsu portion of this exam is on the _Bunshin no Jutsu. _You must successfully create at least three _Bunshin_ to pass."

Naruto nodded, and formed the seal. He closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could. He could feel the chakra within him, flowing through his system, strong and pure and ready to be molded. Slowly, carefully, _timidly_, he pulled it out of him, let it surround him. _Just three..._ He called up more, just a bit more at a time.

_Damn it! _He cursed. He could feel the chakra winding out of his control, slipping right through his proverbial fingers. He had to do it now. It wouldn't be enough--it _couldn't possibly _be enough, but he put all he had into it in a sudden rush, panicking, frantic at the thought of failing as he feared he would--

and he grunted out a strained, _"Bunshin no Jutsu!" _

He didn't even have to open his eyes to know that he had not been successful. The moment the chakra had taken form, he knew he had screwed it up. It didn't feel _right_. It never did. He cracked open an eye and dared himself to look at what monstrosity he had created--and he cringed visibly.

The _thing _crumpled on the floor beside him could hardly be called a _Bunshin_. It was a nearly unrecognizeable lump of flesh and bones, a heap of orange and blue with scraggly blonde hair poking out from atop what he _thought _was supposed to be his head. Before Naruto could begin to wonder why the leg was sticking out of the back of its neck, he dispelled the jutsu and awaited the verdict.

Iruka looked at him with a slight grimace, a reaction to the disfigured _Bunshin _Naruto had created, laced with pity and regret. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun..." he said, hesitantly. "But... I can't let you pass with a _Bunshin_ like that."

"Iruka-sensei," said the silver-haired man sitting beside Iruka--a teacher's aide Naruto had never cared to learn the name of. "Perhaps we should make an exception. After all, he _did _make a _Bunshin_."

Naruto felt a horrid wrenching at his gut and almost clutched at it for the discomfort it caused. Either he had some serious business to attend to in the bathroom stall or something bad was about to happen. _**I vote for the latter, **_came Kyuubi's voice from inside him. _**That man doesn't seem right to me. **_

Naruto had never once questioned the nine-tailed fox's intuition, and he wasn't about to start now. With a mask of deep sorrow, he gave the teacher's aide a pitiful look that disguised his scrutinizing gaze. Kyuubi was right--something about the man seemed _off_, but he didn't have the skills Kyuubi had. He couldn't place what it was.

"No, Mizuki-sensei," came Iruka's voice, snapping him out of his thoughts. "We can't. That could hardly be called a _Bunshin, _by any definition of the word." At this, Naruto winced--such harsh words, coming from someone he looked up to as a brother-figure. "As a ninja, there are times when even these simple academy techniques will be the key to saving your life--or your teammates'. Without even being able to create a single functioning _Bunshin_, how can you expect Naruto to survive as a genin?"

With that said, Iruka grabbed a stamp, pressed hard into a red-stained inkpad, and the slam of the stamp upon his papers were like the hammering of a gavel.

So that was his fate. He would be a civilian. Not even an academy graduate, not a genin, not a ninja _at all_. _How can I expect to be Hokage when I'm such a pathetic ninja? _

Iruka gazed at Naruto with concern. "Naruto-kun... if you would please call Yamanaka-san in here, when you leave?"

Naruto had expected him to say something else. _Of course not... who wants anything to do with a failure like me? _

He nodded numbly and turned away from him, walkingout the door and entering his new life as a common peasant.

He saw Ino sitting against the wall outside and looked down at her just as she glanced up. "Did you pass?" She asked, surprisingly without her normal arrogant sneer.

He tried smiling at her, but it faltered and quickly fell away. "You're up," he said it softly, such a drastic change from his normally deafening voice.

Ino narrowed her eyes at him as she stood, but to his surprise, she said nothing. No jibes, no haughty laughter, no teasing. He watched her walk past him with an incredulous look on his face.

"You know, Naruto," she said, her hand on the door knob, "You're really annoying, and you never shut up, and to be honest, I pretty much hate you." Naruto scowled at this as she turned to face him. "But I'm sorry you didn't pass."

He gawked at her._What the hell--?! _She had already walked through the door before he had a chance to answer.

Mouth still agape, Naruto resembled a fish out of water, the way his mouth kept opening and closing.

_**Close your mouth, brat, you look like an idiot. **_

Naruto promptly closed it. _But, Ino, she--!_

_**Idiot. **_He could sense Kyuubi shake his head at him. _**Did you think you were the only one wearing a mask? **_

Naruto frowned, but simply shook his head and walked outside.

_This… is why I always leave as soon as we're dismissed. _

All around him were his classmates, all happy and proud and laughing and talking cheerily with each other--_and their parents. _Naruto couldn't help but sulk at the sight of it. It was so unfair… being all alone the way he was. He had no parents. He had no sisters, or brothers--not like Inuzuka Kiba, who was boasting proudly to a girl in her upper teens, his elder sister, while his parents watched with broad smiles on their faces. Naruto could only dream of being like them, of having a family.

Naruto turned his eyes away from it and maneuvered around them--_way_ around them--to reach the swing that hung from the lone tree in the academy's expansive playground. He swung one leg over the uncomfortable wooden seat and gripped onto the thick rope that held it up, eyes focused intently on the people just down the hill.

They just looked so _happy_.

_Why can't I be like them? _

_**Because you got me, kid. **_For once, Kyuubi's voice did not sound so menacingly cynical. Despite its low growl, it almost sounded remorseful. But Naruto knew that Kyuubi would never admit to feeling sorry for him, and Naruto didn't want him to.

_Kyuubi, _Naruto asked, his eyes downcast, _did you know my parents? _

Kyuubi seemed taken aback by the sudden question, then, slowly, shook his gargantuan head. _**I'm a fox demon, kid. How the hell would I know your parents? You're asking the wrong **_**bijuu**_**. **_

_Sorry, _Naruto apologized. _I was just… wondering. _

Kyuubi said nothing. This was a matter witty, sarcastic comments couldn't remedy.

Naruto didn't even notice that everyone had already left until he heard the sudden voice beside him. "Naruto-kun," said a leering, slithering voice, "I'm sorry that you failed."

Naruto glanced up at the teacher's aide. "Mizuki-sensei, what are you doing here?"

"I've come to save you," Mizuki said, cheerfully. _Too _cheerfully. Naruto felt Kyuubi bristle in his cage.

The alarms went off in Naruto's head. He _knew _there wasn't a make-up exam. He had failed the exam twice before, and never _once _had he heard of any make-up exam. There was only going back to the academy and repeating the course so that he could try again at the end of the year. The make-up exam didn't exist.

Mizuki was trying to con him.

_**Listen to him. **_

Kyuubi's voice startled him so badly that he flinched, but he was relieved to see that Mizuki hadn't noticed, and was still going on about the make-up exam that he had so obviously fabricating. "--just steal the scroll from the Hokage's secret library, and bring it to the clearing in the forest to the east. I think you know the one." Naruto narrowed his eyes. _He's been watching me train… _"If you bring it to me, then I promise, you'll pass the exam."

Mizuki gave him a closed-eyed grin that was meant to be reassuring. Naruto didn't trust it--Kyuubi had taught him how to observe people, how to just sit back and watch them, and from doing that, Naruto had become able to read people's expressions rather easily--and Mizuki's smile was so fake even a preschooler could see the malice that was hidden so poorly behind it.

But Naruto grinned enthusiastically and pretended to be fooled by the man's words. "Really?! I can pass?!"

"Yup," Mizuki chirped--and on the inside Naruto cringed. Creepy men should _never _talk that way. "Just bring me the scroll."

There was a threat under those words. And Kyuubi's feral, defensive growl made Naruto well aware of it. But Naruto let out a clueless, joyous bark of laughter and leapt off the swing, his usual vigor seemingly replenished. "I'll get that scroll for you, no problem! Or I'm not Uzumaki Naruto!"

"That's the way," Mizuki said, his predatory grin still in place. "Wait until nightfall. Then sneak into the Hokage tower and bring the scroll to me… that will prove your worth as a ninja to Iruka-sensei, no doubt. And you'll get to be a ninja."

Naruto gave the man a wide grin that reached from ear to ear and ran off in the direction of his home to prepare for the night ahead of him.

As soon as he was out of Mizuki's line of vision, Naruto slowed and his thoughts turned inward. _Kyuubi. _

The Kyuubi's attention was on him without the slightest hesitation--when Naruto called him by his full name, he was never to be ignored.

_Were you paying attention to all that? _

The Kyuubi nodded grimly. _**I see the world through your eyes. **_

_What should I do? _

There was a short moment of hesitation. _**I have a plan… **_

* * *

Naruto glared down at the scroll in his lap. _Damn it, I don't understand any of this gibberish! I'm just a gen--no, I'm not even that! I'm just a student! I don't get any of this shit! _

_**Watch your mouth, brat. **_

_You're one to talk, _Naruto countered, sulking.

_**Shut up and listen. Don't worry about that stuff, you wouldn't be good at it anyway. **_Naruto could swear his left eyebrow twitched at the fox's comment. _**Genjutsu requires optimal control of your chakra, and you don't have that. Keep reading. **_

Naruto scowled, but squinted his eyes and skimmed over yet another section of the scroll. _This is all genjutsu! If I can't do genjutsu, then this is useless! You told me I'd get something out of this, you stupid fox! _

_**Then what's that, idiot? **_

The Kyuubi used a bit of chakra to direct his eyes at a certain area of the scroll.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" _Naruto groaned in exasperation. _Kyuubi, I suck at the _Bunshin_!_

_**Not anymore you won't. **_Kyuubi's smug little smirk--or what could be _called _one, anyway--was beginning to get on Naruto's last nerve. _**Read the description.**_

Naruto let out another groan, but did as he was told. As much as he hated to admit it, the Kyuubi was rarely ever wrong. As soon as his mind began to comprehend what the scroll had said, he gasped audibly. _Kyuubi, this--!_

_**Is the perfect jutsu for you. You have too much chakra to use such a weak jutsu like the **_**Bunshin. **_**The **_**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu **_**is a jounin-rank jutsu which uses much more chakra. You don't have to worry about using the right amount because it's automatically divided up for you. **_

_But why is this jutsu in the forbidden scroll? It doesn't seem dangerous. _

_**Haven't you ever heard of chakra exhaustion? The **_**Kage Bunshin **_**is an automated technique. The more chakra you pour into it, the more clones it creates. Even one or two of these type of clones would be hard to pull off for a jounin-level ninja, because of the amount of chakra it requires. And oftentimes, people tend to misjudge how much chakra they have left… since the **_**Kage Bunshin **_**uses so much, it's fairly easy for someone to kill themselves performing it. It's happened quite a few times in the past. **_

_Geez, _Naruto muttered inwardly. _No wonder it was sealed away. _

_**Power is a dangerous thing. **_For a moment, there was a somber silence between them. _**Hurry, brat. That silver-haired bastard is on his way. You'd better step on it if you want to get anything out of that scroll. **_

_Like hell I'm gonna let this be all for nothing! _

* * *

"Kukukuku!"

Naruto was getting _really _tired of hearing that laugh. _Man, that guy is creepy. _

"I'll tell you something, Naruto… something all of us were forbidden to tell you. Haven't you ever wondered why they hated you so much? Why you were always beaten and starved? Why you have no family, no friends?"

Naruto scowled.

"I'll tell you."

"Mizuki, _no!_ That's forbidden!"

"I think we already established that," Mizuki growled at the other man. "Listen…_ Naruto-kun._" Naruto shuddered at the sound of his name on Mizuki's lips. "The reason why everyone hates you… the reason why you're all alone… is because--"

"Oh, shut yet trap already! I already _know _about the Kyuubi. What do you take me for, anyway? Do you really think I'm that stupid?!"

Iruka gawked at the boy. _He… he knew?! He knew about the Kyuubi?! All this time?! But how…? How could he have known?_

"I'm not the idiot you think I am. I knew something was up when you told me about this stupid so-called make-up exam! There's no such thing! Either you didn't do your homework or you're _really _fucken stupid, 'cause I've failed the exam twice before now and there was never a make-up exam before! Like I'd fall for a stupid trick like that!"

"Oh?" Mizuki smirked widely, ever confident in his deception. "If that's how it is, then why did you steal the scroll?"

"Because the Kyuubi told me to." Naruto could hear Iruka's gasp, but he ignored it. _It's not what it sounds like, Iruka-sensei… I promise! _"He warned me about you, you know. But he said that if I went along with it… everyone would get what they deserved."

Naruto stood, carefully weaving around the injured Iruka. "_Especially _you!"

"W-what?!"

"Tashino Mizuki!"

Mizuki spun on his heel as the voice bellowed from the treetops.

"You are hereby placed under arrest for treason!" Five ANBU suddenly appeared, surrounding the man. "Hand over the scroll."

"But--but how--?!"

"Simple." One of the men lifted his mask, and gave the man a smug smirk. "That boy over there tipped us off."

"You believed a _demon?!_"

Iruka struggled to his feet. "The only _demon _here is you, Mizuki." Naruto came to him quickly and supported him as best he could with his twelve-year-old body. He looked down at the small boy as the ANBU whisked the traitor away. "Naruto-kun… you did an amazing thing today."

Naruto grinned.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The blonde boy blinked, and turned to face an ANBU that had remained. It was the man who had removed his mask. He was no longer smirking, his face impassive and expressionless. Inwardly, Naruto cringed. What was he going to do to him?

"Your _sensei _is right. You did a great deed this day." Naruto's mouth fell open in shock. The ANBU came closer to him, and suddenly placed a hand on top of his head, ruffling his hair almost affectionately. Naruto flinched at the touch, but did not pull away. "I have to admit… at one time, I may have felt as he did. But today has shown me that you are not a demon. You're just a boy who happened to be born at the wrong time."

He blinked. "A-ANBU-san…?"

"Good luck on your days as a ninja, Uzumaki." The man placed his mask, one that looked suspiciously like that of a fox, in Naruto's hands. "I think I'll have my eye on you from here on out. You seem strong. Come see me when you make it to genin. I'll give you some nice gear."

With that, the man vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves.

"Wh--what?"

"Naruto-kun."

"Iruka-sensei?"

"Close your eyes."

Naruto, though bewildered, closed them. "What for, Iruka-sensei?"

He felt the sensation of cloth brushing against his cheeks and something warm against his forehead. "Open them."

Iruka was missing his forehead protector. "Iruka-sensei--" he lifted a hand and touched his forehead. Cold metal met his fingers. "What--?"

"Congratulations, Naruto." Iruka's lips widened in a broad, proud smile.

"You passed."

"I passed?! REALLY?!" For once, Naruto's exuberance was not faked.

In the back of his mind, a demon chuckled. _**I told you so. **_

* * *

**_"Akinasu wa Yome ni Kuwasuna." -- "Don't let your daughter-in-law eat autumn eggplants," a Japanese proverb that means, "Don't let yourself be taken advantage of." _**


	2. Mikka Bouzu

**A/N: This is the second chapter! Huaa I actually wrote it. Yay me. **

**Review Replies:**

**_Sam W.:_** _Thank you! Hope I don't disappoint. _

_**sharkngiht6939: **Thank you! I thought for a second that the Kyuubi/Naruto thing was going to be too confusing, or that readers just wouldn't like it. I'm glad that you thought it was a good idea for the story. As for pairings, well, I don't know yet. I have a few in mind, but there are also a few that are definitely out of the question. I can say for sure that this won't be a _yaoi_ fanfiction, though. Right now, I'm thinking of the following: NaruSaku, NaruIno, NaruTen, or NaruTem (though that pairing is far, far away if I decide on it). On the sidelines there is the possibility of ShikaIno or ChoujiIno, KibaHina (probably one-sided), LeeTen or NejiTen, SasuSaku, or ShikaTem (again, later on down the line). I can almost say with one hundred per-cent certainty that NaruHina will not happen. Reasons are my own, PM if you want to discuss it or something. _

* * *

Chapter 2:

_--"Mikka Bouzu."--_

Naruto woke up early on the day of the team assignments. He wanted to be there as early as possible, so he could show off his headband to his classmates and prove to them that he wasn't just a stupid good-for-nothing brat. Usually Naruto would take showers at night, but he wanted to look _extra _nice today, so that he could impress _Sakura. _

_**You never know, maybe if she sees your face under all that grime, she might like you. **_

_Shut it, stupid fox! _

Naruto jumped out of the shower and dried himself off hastily, pulling on a clean pair of boxers and running to his closet to check for something clean to wear. "Hmm…quick, Kyuubi, what should I wear today?"

The Kyuubi was silent. _**Are you **_**kidding **_**me? You only have one outfit, you idiot. **_

Naruto let out a bark of laughter and pulled out his orange jumpsuit that he had actually taken the effort out to wash last night after he had gotten home from his "congratulatory dinner" with Iruka at Ichiraku Ramen. He shut the door to his closet and inspected himself in the broken mirror that hung from it.

_**When you get your first check…the first thing you're doing is going clothes shopping. **_

Naruto scowled at his reflection. _I like orange, though. _

_**You can buy an orange t-shirt or something, but that jumpsuit has **_**got ****_to go. _**

Naruto snickered. _Ya sound kinda gay there, Kyuu. Got something ya need to tell me?_

_**Don't push it. **_

* * *

"Naruto, what the hell are _you _doing here?! You _failed!_"

_Geez, so much for blending in. _

_**You're wearing bright orange. How the hell could you expect to blend in with anything? **_

_Shut it. _

"Nope! I passed! I took a make-up exam! See, I have my forehead protector and everything!"

The object of his affection gave a him a skeptical look. "I bet you just stole it from someone."

"Heh," the emo bastard in the corner let out a soft chuckle at this, "figures the _dobe _would have to stoop so low as to pretend he passed, even though we all know he's dead-last."

"Shut up, bastard! I got my headband fair and square! I'm just as much of a ninja as you are!"

Sasuke only smirked and turned away. Inside, Naruto was seething. _Man, that guy pisses me off! I'll shove my foot so far up your ass you'll be tasting rubber for weeks, pretty boy!_

_**And you said **_**I ****_sounded gay. _**

_Damn it, Kyuubi! Shut the hell up already! Just go to sleep or something, you're pissin' me off!_

"Alright, alright, everyone, settle down." Iruka walked in slowly, and, his eyes finding Naruto easily, gave him a reassuring smile. "Today is the last day you'll be spending in this classroom. You've all spent the last couple of years training to be genin, now it's time for you to make your mark on the world as ninja. You'll be divided up into three-man teams led by a jounin sensei best suited to you and your teammates' abilities and characteristics." Iruka coughed into his hand and pulled out a clipboard. "The first team is Team One, with…"

Naruto tuned the man out, listening only for his name. _Who do you think I'll be put with, Kyuubi?_

_**The Uchiha and his number-one fan girl. **_

_Ino?!_

_**No, stupid. Sakura. That annoying bitch you have such a huge crush on. Though I can't for the life of me understand why… **_

_Hey! Don't talk about Sakura-chan that way! She's nice and smart and funny and--_

_**When has she **_**ever****_ been nice to you, Naruto?_**

Naruto frowned. _…Well… why them?_

_**You're dead-last, brat. The teams have to be properly balanced. So naturally, you'd be put on the team with the highest scoring students. The Top Rookie of the Year, that Uchiha kid, and the nerd, Sakura.**_

_She's not a nerd!_

_**She's the top intellectually, isn't she? **_Naruto nodded mentally. **_Then she's a nerd. _**

_I swear, Kyuubi… sometimes you really--_

"--and Uzumaki Naruto."

_Huh?! What team am I on?! _

He glanced frantically around the room and saw Sakura slam her head on the desk repeatedly. Sasuke was barely suppressing a groan, but was outwardly rolling his eyes. _God damn it, fox, I hate it when you're right. _

The Kyuubi smirked.

"Alright, class. Your jounin _senseis_ will be here to retrieve you shortly. Until then, feel free to talk amongst yourselves."

It was two hours later that found Naruto with his chin resting on the desk, staring blankly at the rare sight of the clean chalkboard that was for once void of profane statements and other such vulgarities written by troublesome students during recess when Iruka wasn't looking--one of those regular students being him, of course--and wondering just why the hell he had been cursed with having a jounin sensei that apparently had no concept of punctuality. Not to mention he was stuck with emo-boy and his fan girl.

Normally, Naruto would have been ecstatic for a chance to be around his eternal crush. But Kyuubi had been teasing him all morning and it had put him into a bad mood, not to mention the jibes from his classmates about how he had been passed because of pity or favoritism, and Sasuke's not-so-well-hidden insults that he threw at every chance he got weren't helping either. What was worse was that Sakura just wouldn't stop gushing at Sasuke about how _wonderful _and _talented _and _amazing _he was, and how _Naruto just couldn't compare, _and how it was _so _unfair that Naruto was on their team because he was _so _annoying, and how Sakura just _wished _they could leave and go on a date together and--

"Sakura, would you just _shut up _for two minutes, _please?!_"

Naruto nearly slapped his hand over his mouth after he said it. He hadn't even realized what he was saying until it was already too late, and he couldn't believe he'd said it, let alone _thought _it in the first place. The shell-shocked expression on Sakura's--and, though restrained, Sasuke's--faces was enough to tell him that _they _didn't believe he'd said it either.

Sakura's eyes narrowed dangerously and Naruto sunk lower in his seat. He knew _all too well _how strong Sakura could be when she was pissed off.

And then Sasuke began to snicker.

At first Naruto thought it was a rat or some other kind of rodent hyperventilating, but then he realized what direction it was coming from and stared at the boy in utter disbelief. His jaw only slackened further when the normally stoic boy burst into _giggles _like a schoolgirl and buried his face in his arms to muffle it. "What the _hell?!" _

The look on Sakura's face had been priceless, if Naruto did say so himself. But it wasn't _that _funny. And he had never heard Sasuke laugh before, even when Iruka had gotten so pissed at Naruto's pranks that he had hung Naruto from a light post upside-down by his own boxers.

There was a resounding thud as Sakura hit the floor, out cold from shock. Naruto glanced at her briefly but was too stunned by the sheer _bizarreness _of his day to help her or keep her from hitting her head on the corner of the desk (which actually sounded quite painful, but that might have been because Sakura just had an extremely hard head or something). Sasuke took one glance at the girl lying unconscious and slightly drooling on the floor and burst into another fit of giggles that Naruto could only describe as _effeminate_.

And then the door burst open and Sasuke promptly straightened and coughed, the redness from his face gone and replaced by his normal cold, expressionless features. But still his body shook with laughter, and Naruto had to stop and wonder if he was daydreaming or if _this was really happening. _

"Well…" A man clad in jounin gear with a hitae-tae placed over one eye, silver-white hair spiking up unkempt and unruly, said lazily, his one-eyed gaze sweeping over them critically. "My first impression of you guys is… I hate you." Naruto balked and set a dark glare upon the man. He didn't even _know _them! "Meet me on the roof." He glanced down at the prone girl on the floor. "Bring her, too. And a bucket of cold water, if you will." With that, he vanished in a whirl of leaves.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke. Sasuke glanced at Naruto.

Naruto stood and walked over to stand above Sakura. Sasuke stood and walked over to stand above Sakura.

"You pick her up," Naruto said, gazing down at her.

Sasuke glared at him. "No, _you _pick her up. _Dobe._"

"_You _pick her up," Naruto let a wide smirk come over his features, "or I'll tell everyone I know how the last of the Uchihas giggles like a little girl!"

"Like they'd believe you," the dark-haired boy muttered, but nonetheless he bent down, and, as if afraid of contracting some kind of fatal disease, picked up the girl gingerly with as little physical contact as possible and walked out of the classroom to head for the roof, holding her as far away from his body as possible.

_Maybe he's gay. _Naruto wondered, frowning as he followed after him.

_**Wouldn't **_**you ****_like to know. _**

_Damn it, Kyuubi! GET OUTTA MY HEAD! GO TO BED! _

* * *

Kakashi seemed unperturbed as the girl spluttered and coughed and shivered. She was thoroughly soaked by the bucket of water thrown on her to wake her up, but he felt no pity. He felt no respect for her either--a ninja shouldn't faint. _Ever. _His eyes glanced shortly at the way her dress clung to her and he sighed. _Why couldn't it have been an older woman who got soaked through? _Sakura might as well have been a boy, for all she had to show off. "Alright. We'll start off with introductions."

"Um, _sensei,_" the girl said tersely, her brow creased with anger as she wrung the water out of her hair, "What about _you _go first to give us an example of what we should say?"

Kakashi raised his visible brow at her, but complied. _At least she has respect for her elders, _he mused inwardly, nodding. _Unlike _some _kids. _His eyes glanced at the two boys, both of whom were restraining snickers for what was more likely than not at the girl's expense. _Interesting, though… I would have thought the Uchiha boy to be the brooding type. _

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, I will be your jounin sensei. I have many likes, and some dislikes. My hobbies… you're not mature enough. My dreams… are none of your business." He grinned at them. "Now it's your turn--go ahead, Mister Emo."

"I'm _not _emo," growled the boy. But Kakashi snickered inwardly--he hadn't even given a glance in the boy's direction. Obviously he'd been called emo quite a lot if he answered to it so naturally. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't have many likes, and I have many dislikes. I don't have any hobbies. My dream… no, my ambition, is to revive my clan…" his eyes narrowed, his face contorted into a deep, dark scowl, "…And to kill a certain man."

_An avenger, then… _Kakashi thought, frowning. _Doesn't surprise me, I guess. I would be too, if I was in his position. But earlier… _he remembered Sasuke nearly bursting into laughter when Kakashi had dumped the bucket of ice water over Sakura's head. _There's more to him than just that. _

"Alright-y then. Your turn, Pinky."

"Don't _call _me that! My name is _Haruno Sakura_!" Kakashi blinked, surprise at the girl's gall to talk back to him so openly. But she soon coughed into her hand with a muttered apology and continued in a much smaller, more bashful voice. "I told you my name. My likes are…" she glanced at Sasuke and flushed embarrassedly. The boy rolled his eyes in response and scooted further away from her. She didn't seem to notice. "My dislikes… I hate Naruto!" She sent the blonde a menacing glare. He scooted away slightly, shrunk down to avoid her gaze. "My hobbies…" Again she glanced at Sasuke and blushed. "And my dreams for the future are…" She blushed an even darker shade of red and let out a barely repressed, high-pitched squeal.

All three boys in the vicinity rolled their eyes in exasperation, one thought going through their minds:

_Girls!_

Kakashi let out a heavy, audible sigh, at which Sakura had the nerve to look confused at. "Blondie, your turn."

Naruto scowled at him for the nickname, but spoke confidently his introduction: "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like training, learning new jutsus, and most of all, _RAMEN! _I dislike how long it takes to make ramen. Those three minutes can be so _loooooong!_ And I hate people who judge other without getting to know them." _Should've expected that. _Kakashi nodded to himself. "My hobbies… training and trying different kinds of ramen! My favorite is Ichiraku's miso ramen, so far! And my dreams to the future…" He reached up and took hold of the metal plate on his headband, grinning widely. "Is to become the greatest Hokage ever, even better than the Yondaime!"

Kakashi allowed himself a small smile under his mask. _Quite the dream you have there, Naruto. _His gaze swept over his students. _Sasuke was the Top Rookie. No doubt he will be the strongest of this team. Especially when he gets the Sharingan. But that goal of his could hurt him in the long run, if that's all he has to look forward to, killing his brother. I'll have to work hard on finding him something else to strive for. The path of revenge is never bright. _

_Sakura will need a lot of work. She's more worried about boys--namely, Sasuke--than her career as a ninja. If she's only doing this to impress him, it could become a problem. She needs to find her own drive, her own goal to reach for, in order to become stronger. She's smart, but she's physically weak. Conditioning her will have to take top priority over anything else I teach her… _

_Naruto was dead-last…but he is the container of the Kyuubi. No doubt he has unmatched potential as a ninja. He just has to learn how to use it. Akumo told me what happened with Mizuki. If he already knows about the Kyuubi, then it's only a matter of time before the seal weakens… according to his transcripts, his chakra control isn't nearly enough to handle that much power. I'll have to work with him on that. _

Kakashi frowned to himself, even as he told him of the morning _"exam" _they would have to determine if they would make fit genin or not. How would he train a team of individuals with such varying strengths and weaknesses? They would work well together, if they learned how, due to their weaknesses and strengths playing off one another--Naruto had the chakra to be exceptional at ninjutsu, Sasuke was already quite adept at taijutsu, and his skill would only increase as he developed the Sharingan later on, and Sakura, if she actually put forth the effort, would be an excellent strategist, and based on the report Iruka had given him about her exquisite chakra control in the Academy, she would also be quite skilled at the more complicated, technological jutsus--like healing jutsus and genjutsus--the kind that required optimal concentration and control.

_I could have a perfect team here, _he noted, as he left them on the rooftop. _Damn...I have a lot of work ahead of me._

* * *

**_"Mikka Bouzu" -- "A monk for three days". It's basically a saying that refers to people who are adverse to hard work. Kakashi's lateness makes me think he might be a person you might be able to say this to. There's also another meaning, which is, "to give up when things get too difficult", but that wasn't the meaning I was going for. _**

**A/N: Yes, Sasuke was extremely OOC in this chapter. But think about it...Naruto telling Sakura to shut up, and the look on her face when he does? I think it'd be pretty laughable to anyone, even Sasuke. Wouldn't you laugh if you saw your most annoying pest looking like a drowned rat? Excuses, excuses, huh? I guess I just like giving Sasuke more of a personality than "grunt, I hate you, grr, must kill." Sue me. (Just kidding, don't! I'm broke enough as it is.) I apologize for the OOC, and the Sakura bashing! I love Sakura, believe it! (couldn't resist, sorry..)**

**Review, review, review!**


	3. Gaden Insui

**A/N: Here's chapter 3. **

**Review responses:**

_**Vilkath: **Oh, my, a constructive reader! Just what I needed. For the first part of your review of Chapter 1, yes, Naruto doesn't seemed to have changed much. But keep in mind that this is not going to be a fast-paced story where Naruto is automatically god-like and a genius. I also haven't gotten very introspective when it comes to Naruto, either, so all you're reading and seeing as what is Naruto's personality is what his peers are seeing as well. _

_To your review of the second chapter: I'm glad that you found them funny, a little sad that you are disappointed with the way Naruto is portrayed as of now. I understand, though, as I would be too. It doesn't exactly start out as an omg-Naruto-is-super-cool-and-powerful story, does it? It's getting there, so give it time! This is the first time I'm writing an actual multi-chapter story for Naruto, too, so there are going to be a few flaws. Forgive me if my story isn't up to par with what you were expecting. I hope you stick around for more, though, I'd hate to lose a reader. I really appreciate your reviews, though, they helped me realize what I need to work on in this story. I hope that this chapter is a little better, as it shows a little more of Naruto's increased intelligence/maturity compared to the original. _

* * *

Chapter 3:

_--"Gaden Insui"--_

When Naruto arrived at the training area Kakashi had specified that next morning, sharply at _six _as he'd instructed, only the pink-haired girl of his dreams was already standing there--or rather, collapsed there, as she was half-asleep against one of the fences that enclosed the area. If he wasn't so tired, he would have laughed--he'd never seen anyone fall asleep standing up before.

"Good morning, Sakura-_chan_!" He chimed brightly, waving at her even though her eyes weren't open.

As soon as they were, she sent him a glare rival that of the Uchiha's. "Shut up, Naruto. It's too early for this."

Naruto blinked--whatever happened to the ever-so-punctual and proper Sakura he knew from the academy? _There's a demon hiding there somewhere, I swear. _"Sorry, Sakura-chan," he apologized, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I didn't know you were sleeping."

Sakura had the grace enough to flush in embarrassment. "I-I wasn't sleeping. I just,…got here early, and my feet started hurting and--" she broke off as the dark figure of her crush entered the clearing. "Sasuke-kun! Good morning!" Sasuke grunted something in response without even looking at her, taking a place beside her against the fence, but a good foot and a half away.

"Hey, bastard." Naruto greeted snidely, giving the boy a wry smirk.

The other boy glared at him, but said nothing. It seemed like Sakura wasn't the only one so grumpy in the early morning. Naruto was used to it, sort of--Kyuubi had a nasty habit of yelling at him to wake up at dawn for before-school training, something he said would help him in the long run. It pissed Naruto off to no end, since he couldn't even sleep in on the weekends when he didn't have school, but Kyuubi didn't do anything without a reason.

Naruto plopped down on the ground and leaned back on the fence next to Sakura's legs. He sniffed the air lightly--it smelled suspiciously of mildew, like clothes that had been drenched by the rain and then dried without being wrung out, or left out in the open where the water could set in and cause the unpleasant-smelling mold to fester. He glanced at Sakura's sandals.

"Oi, Sakura-chan."

"_What_, Naruto?!"

"Why do your shoes smell bad?"

Sakura twitched. "My shoes don't _smell_, idiot. _You _smell like garbage."

Naruto didn't doubt it. He hadn't had time to clean his outfit--or the money, for that matter (his nasty landlord charged him three times the amount she did other tenants to use the Laundromat located on the bottom floor)--and the last time he'd worn it had been the time when the villagers thought it was funny to throw a pile of rotting lettuce and other unmentionables on him from the rooftops. A bunch of prankster teenagers much older and taller than him-- he could have taken them on, but it would have only made it worse, since then their _parents _would be after him, too.

But Sakura's shoes _did _smell. Like dirt and mud and rain and _old_. Like she'd had them for a long time. He glanced at them out of the corner of his eyes. They didn't look that old. _She doesn't really train much, though…_ he thought inwardly, recalling how he normally had to buy a new pair every month or so.

_I know, I can get Sakura-chan new shoes for her birthday. _He had been thinking about her birthday a lot lately, since it was coming up soon (if you considered _three months from now _soon, that was). Now he had the perfect idea for a gift.

_**Idiot. Buying her new shoes after you say her feet stink will make her hate you more. **_

_I didn't say her feet stunk! I said her _shoes_ stunk._

_**Same thing, to her. **_

Naruto scowled. _Go back to sleep, stupid fox. _

The Kyuubi grunted and fell silent. Naruto wished _he _could go back to sleep. Or that he could train a little. Or _anything_, for that matter. "Geez! Where's our _sensei_, anyway?! Why's he so late?!"

"We don't _know_, Naruto." Sakura said, groaning. She was extremely irritated at the moment. But then, she was always irritated when he was around.

"If he's as late as he was yesterday I'm gonna kick his ass!"

Sasuke scoffed.

_--Three hours later.--_

"Yo!"

"_You're LATE!" _

Kakashi blinked at the two of his students, who looked at each other in as much surprise as he was looking at _them_. Naruto grinned, chirping a _"Jinx!" _while Sakura scowled and decided to stare at Sasuke instead. He cleared his throat to catch their attention.

"Sorry, sorry, I had to help an old lady cross the street."

Sakura and Naruto stared him rather blankly, disbelieving expressions on their faces. Sasuke glared. As usual.

Kakashi coughed. "Well, anyway." He led them to the center of the clearing, where the three logs were set up, and placed a timer on top of the one in the center. "You have six hours to complete the test." He glanced at the time. "Well, until noon. Which means you have three hours."

"_What?! _Kakashi-sensei, it's _your _fault we're starting late! How come _we _have to get less time because _you _can't show up on time?!"

Kakashi glanced at him. "You have until noon. Or would you rather be sent back to the academy now?"

Naruto seethed inwardly, but grit his teeth and kept his mouth shut.

"Your objective is to get these two bells from me. Whoever gets a bell passes."

"But _sensei_," Sakura said, her brow furrowing in confusion, "there's only two bells. That means one of us has to fail, doesn't it?"

"Exactly," Kakashi said, smirking beneath his mask. "One of you will _definitely _be sent back to the academy. I won't go easy on you. You'll have to come at me with the intent to kill if you want to get one of these bells. If none of you get a bell… then it's back to the academy for all of you. And let me tell you this now: I have never passed a team before."

They gulped inwardly.

"Now…_begin!_"

There was only the sound of leaves rustling as the three vanished into the forest surrounding them.

_Good,_ Kakashi thought. He pulled out his book and pretended to read it. _They at least have the sense to hide themselves. Even him_, his exposed eye flitted to the left of him, where the orange-clad loudmouth was crouched among the brush. _Smarter than I thought, _he mused. _That suit would give him away if he decided to hide in the trees. _His eye swerved to look at the opposite side, where Sasuke was squatted pensively in one of the topmost branches of a large maple. His dark attire helped to hide him among it, but the splash of white among the green gave him away. _Sakura's chakra signature is small enough to allow her to hide anywhere. _He stared straight ahead--Sakura was huddled behind the trunk of an old oak tree.

They were spread out in a triangle, a strategic formation indeed, but Kakashi doubted it had been on purpose.

He turned his eyes on his book. _Now to see who will be the first… _

* * *

The muscles in Naruto's calves tightened apprehensively as he prepared to leap forward into the clearing. _I won't fail again! Not after I made it this far!_

_**Stop, you idiot! **_

The Kyuubi's sudden outburst sent Naruto tumbling into the bush in front of him in surprise, and in a sudden moment of panic, he leapt far away and moved further into the foliage behind him. He saw Kakashi look at the area he had occupied and held his breath. The man didn't move.

He breathed again.

_What the hell was that for, Kyuubi?! _

_**Are you stupid? **_

Naruto scowled. _What?! No, I'm not stupid! _

_**Then put what I taught you to good use and watch. **_

Naruto turned his eyes to the clearing just in time to see Sasuke's form dart out of the trees to confront the jounin.

A dozen kunai and shuriken launched from Sasuke's hands and Kakashi dodged them easily, but they were only a distraction. Sasuke flipped and mid-air and landed just in front of the man, swinging his leg in an arc that was too wide, _way _too wide. _He's open_, Naruto thought, frowning deeply. Kakashi took advantage of the hole in Sasuke's guard and sent an open-palmed hand into his side, sending the boy skidding back a few yards from the strength of the impact.

It hadn't been intended to cause pain, but Naruto saw the way Sasuke began to favor his right side where Kakashi had struck him, leaning over slightly to let the pain ebb away. But Sasuke wasn't one to show weakness, and he brought his hands up into a combination of seals that were too fast for Naruto to see.

"_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" _Sasuke planted himself firmly on the ground and placed a directing finger in front of his mouth, breathing so deeply his chest almost seemed to expand and then heaving out a long, steady gust of air that exploded into a fireball as big as wide as Naruto was tall.

Kakashi jumped out of the way and landed right on a trap Sasuke had set when neither Naruto nor he had been looking, but leapt so quickly that when the trap sprung and kunai went flying, he was already well out of the way and once again reading his book as if all of this was nothing more than child's play.

And it probably was, for a jounin like him.

_Damn it! If Sasuke can't even touch him with taijutsu, how can I expect to get a bell?! _Naruto was the first to admit his taijutsu abilities were near non-existent, even with Kyuubi's help. His body was conditioned for it, but he had no formal teacher, and an entity that only existed in his mind couldn't help him learn anything as physical as taijutsu katas.

Sasuke, in the meanwhile, was allowing his pride to get the best of him. His moves were getting sloppy, marred by his increasing frustration at his inability to land a hit. He kicked and punched, he spun and dodged, he threw distracting kunai he hoped to leave an opening and struck when he _knew _there was one, but he still couldn't manage to get through Kakashi's defense no matter what he tried.

In a moment of pure desperation, he leapt and aimed a punch right at Kakashi's head. The man caught his fist with leisure, not even breaking a sweat, and Sasuke raised his leg up and ignored the way his muscles stretched painfully in protest at the awkward movement. Kakashi blocked it with his other arm and Sasuke gritted his teeth and spun upside-down--and he was _there _and he could _see _it and he could _almost touch it _and he _had _it--and then it was gone and Sasuke was suddenly feeling very cramped and like he was standing in cement and looking a smug Kakashi right in the eye.

"Damn you!"

Kakashi only grinned at him. "Better luck next time!"

_Damn it!_

_**Hold on, Naruto. When have you ever heard of a two-man team? **_

Naruto frowned. _Two-man teams…There aren't any two-man genin teams. They're always three-man teams so that they can balance out… but two bells… _

"_As a ninja, sometimes you will have to sacrifice yourself for your teammates. You will, more likely than not, always work as a team, whether there be two or three, or six or ten, you will work in a team. When you're on a mission, sometimes you will have to rely on your teammates, and your teammates will have to rely on you. And when it comes to your survival between the completion of the mission and the survival of your teammates, the mission and your teammates come first. You must be ready to sacrifice yourself for the betterment of the whole. That is one of the most important lessons a ninja will ever learn." _

Iruka's voice came to his mind as if he were standing right next to him.

_A three-man team… two bells… there's no such thing as a two-man genin team… but there's only two bells. _

"_Whoever gets the bells will pass."_

"_But sensei, that means one of us will fail no matter what."_

_The mission is to get the bells… two bells… and there's three of us. _

"_Sometimes you will have to sacrifice yourself for the betterment of the whole."_

"_You will always be in a team."_

_Hah. _Naruto smirked triumphantly. _Kakashi-sensei thought he could fool me. There's no such thing as a two-man genin team. Him saying that there's only two bells makes us go for the bells all alone because we don't want to fail. But if we're only academy graduates. An academy graduate can't hold his own against a jounin, let alone be fast enough or sneaky enough to get something like a bell off his waist. _Naruto eyed the bells dangling from Kakashi's belt. _The only way we could possibly get the bells would be if we worked together. But if we all thought we had to get a bell, and there was no way for all of us to pass, why would we work together? He meant to put us against each other. _

Naruto glowered at the silver-haired jounin. _He set us up to fail. _

**_Good thinking, brat. So you're finally putting what I taught you to good use. _**

_You didn't teach me much, fox. _Naruto sat down on the ground and crossed his arms. He had to think of a way to get his teammates to work with him. Otherwise, he'd fail, and he would never have the chance to fulfill his dream. That was one thing he would _never _let happen. _That Sasuke-teme is too cocky to want to work with anyone. And Sakura hates me. But without them, I can't get a bell. Damn it, fox, why couldn't you just find a way to teach me taijutsu?_

**_You want to try to release the seal, go right ahead, I won't stop you. Otherwise quit your complaining. I told you to go to that man in green and you said you'd train yourself. _**

_Can you blame me? _Naruto shuddered at the thought of having to wear green spandex and orange legwarmers. He wouldn't be caught _dead _in that kind of a suit, no matter how good the guy was. That dude just creeped him out...screaming about the power of youth and hugging his little mini-me way too close for comfort. Naruto would first cut off his right hand before he succumbed to torture like that. _That guy was weird. _

**_It's your fault. _**

_Whatever..._Naruto was brought out of his thoughts by a blood-curdling scream. _Sakura-chan!_

He jumped to his feet and took off in the direction of his pink-haired teammate.

Kakashi glanced at the brush as Naruto dashed through the forest. _He's headed for Sakura. _He looked at where he had left the girl, passed out on the ground next to a tree after seeing his simple genjutsu. _Either he's doing it because of that crush of his… _He hadn't missed the way Naruto had scowled every time the word _"Sasuke-kun!" _came out of the girl's mouth. _Or he's figured it out. _

He smiled a bit under his mask. _Well, Naruto. Let's see what you've got. _

Naruto jumped down from the trees and landed next to Sakura's head, almost stepping on her precious hair. He bent down and picked the twigs and bramble that had gotten stuck in a lock of her hair from her fainting almost halfway into a bush next to the tree and pulled her carefully away from it, making sure not to do it too roughly, or to touch her in any places that would incite her to kill him later.

"Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan. Wake up, Sakura-chan!" He shook her shoulder gently. "Sakura-chan… wake up!" He raised a hand to tap her gently on the cheek and hesitated. Hitting a girl just wasn't his style… especially _her. _He resolved to shaking her again, and was rewarded with a startled splutter and a series of coughs and Sakura nearly rammed him in the forehead with how quickly she bolted upright.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto sighed. _Figures he'd be the first thing she thinks of… _

"Naruto?!" She gave him a suspicious glare. "What the hell are you doing here?" She glanced over him. "And why are you sitting so close?!" Her nose wrinkled in disgust and she leapt to her feet, standing a good five feet from him. "You stink."

Naruto refrained from rolling his eyes as he stood. "You passed out, Sakura-chan. I was only trying to wake you up."

Her glare only intensified. "_Why _were you--wait, where's Sasuke-kun?!"

Naruto glanced away. "He's not here. He's still buried."

"_What?! No, my Sasuke-kun!" _She wailed the words so dramatically Naruto almost gagged.

"He's not dead!" He exclaimed, groaning. "He fought Kakashi-sensei and got stuck underground by some weird _Doton _jutsu!" He pointed at the clearing, where Sasuke was still trying to squirm his way out of the ground Kakashi had so securely buried him in. "Weren't you watching?"

"I was, but…" Sakura frowned, looking thoroughly bewildered. "I can't remember… I saw Sasuke-kun… he was bleeding and he asked me to help him and then… I can't remember anything else."

"But Sasuke-teme hasn't gotten out of that hole yet. You must have been seeing things, Sakura-chan." Naruto glanced at the struggling boy and folded his hands behind his head. "Kakashi-sensei must've put you in a genjutsu."

Sakura glared at him. "I _know _that now."

"Well," he said, mumbling his words, "shouldn't you have known when you saw him? He was still in that hole then, wasn't he? You should've known it was a genjutsu… you're really smart, after all. I thought you'd be able to see through a genjutsu really easily."

Sakura blinked at him. "Well, I--" she closed her mouth abruptly and the glare returned. She placed her hands on her hips. "You never answered my question, Naruto!"

"What question?"

"What are you doing here? Why were you here?"

"Oh… I heard you scream and I got worried so I came to make sure you were okay."

Again, she stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Oh… well, don't expect me to give up my bell! I'm not failing! Besides, you already failed twice, what's one more time? You should let me and Sasuke pass. You're dead-last."

Naruto cringed outwardly. "But I passed this time…" He looked at the ground and shuffled his feet. "And," he mumbled, "if I don't pass this time, I can't go back to the academy anymore. I won't be able to become a ninja if I don't pass."

Then he remembered the reason why he had needed to come to her in the first place. "But… you're right. You and Sasuke-teme deserve it… more than I do. Sasuke's the top rookie… and you're the smartest in our class." _I have to get her to trust me. _He crossed his arms. "I guess that if one of us has to fail, then it should be me. So I have an idea."

Sakura frowned at him. "Naruto…"

"Kakashi-sensei is a jounin. And we just got out of the academy. We can't beat him all by ourselves. You saw Sasuke! He's better than us…" _Yeah, right… _"And he still couldn't match Kakashi. But if we work together, maybe we can get the bells after all! You could make the plan… like, I could try to distract Kakashi-sensei while you Sasuke attacks him from behind, and while me and Sasuke are fighting him, you could sneak in and grab the bells before he even notices you're there."

"That's…" She stared at him, and dropped her stance in surprise. "Actually a good idea…"

He grinned. "So you'll work with me then?"

She hesitated. She felt guilty that Naruto was going to be helping she and Sasuke pass while basically securing his fate as a mere civilian, but… she was going to pass, and so was Sasuke… and Naruto was annoying, after all. She shook the guilt out of her head. She nodded and followed him to retrieve Sasuke and tell him about the plan.

* * *

"--So that's the plan!" Naruto finished, grinning. "Sakura-chan thought it up." Sakura opened her mouth to protest--_Naruto _had thought of it, not her--but she saw Sasuke look at her with a hint of acknowledgement and her voice died in her throat. "Impressive huh? She's really smart, right?"

She almost fainted when Sasuke's head dipped in a slow, _slow_ nod. Her dark-haired love opened his mouth, closed it, and then said, _very slowly_, "…Good idea,… Sakura."

Sakura felt her face heat up, and an uncontrollable smile plastered itself on her features. Naruto looked at her and grinned. A wave of guilt shot through her, but she pushed it down stubbornly. This was her chance to finally get Sasuke to notice her. She wasn't going to let some idiot dead-last get in her way… no matter how selfless he had been. "So, Sasuke…" Naruto started, shifting uncomfortably. Sakura didn't fail to notice how he had left the normal _-teme _off of Sasuke's name, and briefly she wondered if it was another one of his selfless acts towards her. Again, she shoved the thought away. "Think you can handle it?"

"Of _course_ I can handle it, _dobe_." The Uchiha snapped, glaring at him. "I should be asking _you _that question. How can you think that you could distract Kakashi in the first place?" _He's so cool! _Sakura squealed inwardly at the way the boy refused to put any honorific after the man's name.

"I can make clones."

"Like _hell _you can," Sasuke retorted, a little louder than normal. "You failed the _ninjutsu _portion of the genin exam. You can't make a clone to save your life."

_Says you_, Naruto grumbled inwardly. "I'm here, aren't I?" He said, smirking at him. "How else would I be here unless I could make a clone?"

"One clone isn't gonna cut it. A jounin can see through an illusion like that."

Suddenly Sakura began to wonder if the plan would work at all. "That's right, Naruto… a bunshin won't do any good against Kakashi-sensei, would it?"

"Don't worry!" His assurances could have fallen on deaf ears for the relief it seemed to bring his teammates. "I've got it all under control, I promise! I can definitely distract Kakashi-sensei with my clones, just trust me! Take my word on it. I never break my word."

Sasuke gave him a skeptical glance. "If you do something stupid, Naruto… if you end up making us fail, I will kill you. _Slowly_."

Naruto raised a brow and squinted at the boy. _Geez, morbid much? _"Okay, okay! If I mess up and you guys don't get a bell, you can _both_ kill me." _I'd be worthless anyway. _

"Fine." Sasuke stood and brushed off the rear of his shorts. "Let's get this over with." He glanced at the clock, "It's already eleven thirty. We only have half an hour to pull this off."

Three hours went by quickly when you were too stressed to comprehend the time. Naruto nodded and smiled a final smile at Sakura, who, to his surprise, actually smiled back--_barely_. "Leave it to me!" He looked at Sasuke. "You know when to step in right?"

"After you make the distraction." Sasuke answered, his voice rumbling with what resembled a growl. Naruto figured he didn't like the fact that he was following _him_, of all people. The Uchiha was proud of being the strongest, the top rookie, the _best_--a superiority complex at its very best. It must be _killing _him to work under the leadership of the _"blonde idiot". _

"Right!" Naruto gave him a blinding grin. "Now, remember, when you get the bells, give one to Sasuke, and keep the other one for yourself."

"I'm not _stupid_, Naruto."

"I know," he said, still smiling at her. "I just wanted to make sure." With that said, he leapt away and prepared for his ambush.

_**Kakashi will tear through your clones in seconds, boy. **_

_I know, _Naruto growled at him. _But if I can make enough, it should give Sasuke enough time to jump in and then Sakura can go for the bells…_

_**I'll never understand you. **_

_Huh? _

_**I know what you're thinking. I know that you're thinking you will pass this test along with them by **_**'sacrificing'**_** yourself. I have no doubt that's the way things are going to go. But tell me, brat. Why give them the bells when they hate you so much? Why do you even care if they pass?**_

_Because, _Naruto said to him in his mind, _even if they don't like me__… even if they think I'm an idiot and a good-for-nothing, at least if I do this for them, they won't forget me. I want to be recognized for who I am, for how strong I can be. That's why I want to become Hokage. So… if things don't work out as planned, and they pass and I really do fail and get forced to be just a regular citizen… at least they won't forget what I did for them. _

…_**Humans. You're such stupid creatures. **_

_Because we're not selfish? _

The fox's chuckle rang in his ears. _**Because people like you need no reason to care. **_

Naruto found himself grinning, crouching among the branches of a tall tree, ready to pounce. _If I don't, who will? _

He stood, setting his gaze upon his opponent. "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"_

His voice rang out loud and clear. The area filled with the figures of orange-clad ninjas and loud-mouthed boys with blonde hair.

The plan went off without a hitch. Well, without too _much _of one, at least. Naruto created his clones and led them in a charge against Kakashi like a stampede of raging bulls. It took all of twenty seconds for Kakashi to dispel all but two of his clones. Then, Sasuke sprung from the brush and surprised Kakashi from behind, who barely blocked a kick to the head. Sasuke's kicks and punches were faster than before, fueled by desperation and a need to succeed--_eleven minutes left--_and Kakashi drove all his attention to Sasuke, no longer worried about fussing with Naruto. Naruto took the chance to create even _more _clones, despite the exhaustion tugging at his brain and body, and charged in after Kakashi, too, to make sure Kakashi was too occupied with them to notice Sakura's approach from the foliage. Sakura's strike was well-planned as Sasuke and Naruto drove Kakashi back to the line of the forest. She jumped out and ducked below an expertly-aimed kick of Sasuke's, dodged a punch Naruto's clone had directed at Kakashi's solar plexus, and snatched the bells from the man's belt a mere milli-second after the man realized she was there.

Sakura then dove out of the way without a second to spare as Kakashi threw off the two boys. When Sasuke and Naruto landed beside her--Sasuke on his feet after a slight stumble, Naruto in a crumpled heap from the kick that had snatched his breath away--she stuck out her tongue and dangled the bells with a welling warmth in her gut at her--no, _their_--success.

"Well, well," Kakashi said then, straightening. "Seems like you guys forgot my rule."

"Huh?"

"Look at the time."

All three turned their heads to the timer set upon the log.

_12:03PM. _

"Three minutes past noon," the silver-haired jounin said, giving them a frown that only _he _knew was fake. "I told you that you had until noon to complete the exam, or you all fail."

"You have _got _to be kidding me!" Naruto's outburst voiced the thoughts of the two beside him. "We did all that, we got the two bells, we worked our _asses _off, and you're telling us we're gonna fail because we were _three minutes _over the time limit?!"

"Time is of the utmost importance in a mission."

"Like _you _should talk! You were _three hours _late! We should pass! If you had been here on _time _like a _responsible _adult would be, then we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place! We would have gotten the bells in half the time you assigned, but because _you _decided you didn't feel like showing up until three hours after you told us, _we _suffer?! _We _fail because you're a crappy teacher?!"

Kakashi almost scowled at the boy. "You should have respect for your elders."

"Respect is _earned, _not given!"

The man quirked an eyebrow at the boy, gazed at the other two. They were staring at him with hard eyes--or at least, Sasuke was, Sakura was looking at him like a lost puppy begging for food. He looked down at the short blonde in front of him, and nodded.

"Very well," he said. "You _did _seem to get the point of the test."

"Point?" Naruto glanced at his two teammates rather lazily. _Geez, I would've thought that Sakura-chan would have figured it out._

Kakashi almost slapped himself in the forehead. _Please be joking. _"Teamwork." The three looked at him with frowns on their faces, but he couldn't tell whether it was from their annoyance with him or because they had no idea what he was talking about. "A wise person once told me, _'Those who break the rules are trash. But those who abandon their comrades are _worse _than trash.'_ As a ninja, you will more often than not be put into teams for your missions, whether you're genin, jounin, or even ANBU. The worst thing a ninja can do on a mission is be selfish, and only care about himself. The mission comes first--that's what they taught you at the academy. But here, now that you're in the real world--" He heard a collective gasp from the group, "--Your teammates are most important. When you decide that you will leave them for your own sake, you have failed as a ninja."

"So…" Sakura started, relaxing slightly, "Does that mean we passed?"

Kakashi sighed. "Yes, Sakura. You passed. You brought all of you together in order to take the bells from me. That was the point of this test. I only had two because it would cause conflict among you, make you think that it was every man for himself." He glanced at Sakura. "Or woman." She smiled at him. "But the three of you would never be able to retrieve a bell from me by yourself. Whether you would fight alone in your selfish desire to pass, or you would take the risk of forfeiting your own future as a ninja for the sake of your teammates--_that _was the purpose of this test."

Naruto turned to his teammates and gave them a smile. "I told you it would work out.

"Congratulations. The three of you are now officially genin of _Konohagakure. _Go home and get some rest. Your first mission is tomorrow morning at nine. Be prepared."

Sasuke was the first to turn around. Sakura jumped and bolted after him shortly after, blabbing excitedly about how amazing he'd been against Kakashi. Sasuke was pointedly ignoring her. Naruto watched them for a short moment, glanced at his teacher, and then walked in the opposite direction, towards the ramen shop. "Naruto." He turned, blinking.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Stay here for a moment."

Naruto frowned and stopped, turning to face him. "What is it?"

"It's nothing bad," Kakashi assured him. The man put his book away in his back pouch and looked down at the boy with a critical eye. "I just have a few questions I'd like to ask you."

_Oh boy... _"Okay. What are they?"

"Firstly: Who was it that made up that plan?"

Naruto hesitated. "It was Sakura-chan."

"Don't lie to me, Naruto. She didn't know the point of the test. Neither did Sasuke. You were the one who thought of it, weren't you?" Kakashi gave him a rueful smirk. "You're not as stupid as you make yourself seem."

"Heh," Naruto smiled, but his eyes did not brighten. "Sometimes, you can't judge a book by its cover."

* * *

_**"Gaden Insui" -- "Pulling water to my own rice paddy". It means, "to act in a way to benefit yourself". It's about Naruto. Let's see if anyone guesses in what way Naruto acts and how it benefits him, hm?**_

**_Review, review, review!_**


	4. Jyuunin To Iro

**A/N: Here's the fourth chapter. Sorry it took so long! There's been a lot of issues in real life what with my mom being a travel nurse and issues with the apartment they gave us and etc etc...Just a bunch of confusion, really. I haven't had much time to get on the computer because we've been so busy trying to sort everything out and exploring the town and such, so, truly, I apologize! I'll try to make sure I keep the chapter updates a lot more frequent from now on. **

_**Review response: (Tombadgerlock) **__Thanks, I appreciate your reviews. Yes, I know that the Kyuubi-training-Naruto deal is old news. There are about as many of these types of stories as there are NaruHina fics, and that's saying something. I read quite a few, but none of them really pleased me. Either Naruto was god-like and invincible (which made the story boring), it was NaruHina (a pairing that, unfortunately, I gag at), or he was dark and evil and depressing. I hope my story doesn't fall into those categories, and that's why I'm writing it. I do plan on making Sasuke have a lighter personality than the canon, though he won't be all giggles-and-smiles, of course. That would ruin his character. I don't know about whether he'll defect or not yet, I've still a lot of time to decide that. For your chapter 3 review, you didn't seem too impressed. Sorry about that, don't mean to disappoint. I'll try to make future chapters more enjoyable. _

* * *

Chapter 4:

_--"Jyuu-nin To Iro"--_

"Hmmmmmmm." Naruto let out a dragged out sound of contemplation, gazing intensely at the assortment of clothing in front of him. It had taken one long, dreary month of D-ranked missions for him to save up a good amount of money for just this _very _purpose. Today, he would get new clothes.

"Can I help you?"

He jumped visibly and spun around to look at the girl behind the counter. She was looking at him curiously--but her gaze was not like that of other villagers. She looked at him like he was any other person. Like he was _normal_. Like he didn't have the Kyuubi sealed inside him.

He stared at her for a long, uncomfortable moment. Presently, he said: "Um, I'm just looking for some clothes, that's all. I, uh…" he looked down at his jumpsuit, "I'm kinda overdue."

She laughed at him, openly and wholeheartedly. Not scathingly, like he was so used to. "Looks like it." She straightened from her position of leaning against the counter and walked around the counter to talk to him upfront. "What kind of clothes are you looking for?"

He watched her for any signs of deception and saw none. _No wonder, _he mused, taking a minute to look at her up close, _she's not that much older than me. She probably doesn't even know about the Kyuubi, since she's not an adult… and they're forbidden to say anything about it. _"Anything," he said, "I'm not looking for anything special…"

He glanced over the various clothes spread out among him in various displays, racks, and shelves. Most were in black or blue, with some white and grey thrown in here and there. He saw a few splashes of red, but not many--orange was completely absent, as was any other bright color. "I just want something that won't get ruined when I train."

Her eyes darted upwards to his forehead, and she smiled at him. "You're a genin?"

"Yup!" He grinned at her and touched the metal plate as if to remind himself that it was there. "I just passed the exam about a month ago!"

"Ah, fresh out of the academy." Her smile turned wistful.

"You're a ninja, too?"

"Of course!" She exclaimed, as if the question was completely ludicrous. "I graduated a year ago." Her brow furrowed. "Come to think of it… you look familiar. What's your name?"

He grimaced. She looked familiar, too, and now he knew why. He had been in the class opposite hers the year before, and he'd often seen her training during what was supposed to be their free time after lunch. Once he'd asked her to teach him how to throw shuriken like he did--she was even better than Sasuke!--but she had been tugged away by a strange boy with weird hair and eyebrows that looked like they'd come from another planet before she'd gotten a chance to answer him.

"Uzumaki Naruto! Remember it, 'cause I'll be Hokage one day!"

She laughed, but it was warm and ringing and didn't sound mocking at all. He decided then and there that he _liked _this girl. She wasn't like his classmates, she didn't hate him, she didn't insult him, and she didn't make fun of him. In the back of his mind, a voice nagged him that she probably didn't remember him and that was _why _she didn't do those things, but he pushed it away and allowed himself to enjoy a rare moment of happiness. "Hokage, huh?"

"Yup! I'm gonna be even better than _Yondaime!_ I'll be the greatest Hokage ever."

"Better than Yondaime…" She watched him with a serious expression on her face, and he almost stepped back in the fear that she would attack him like he had been assaulted so many times before by other shop owners. But then a corner of her mouth quirked up in a half-smile. "You got quite the dream there."

"Yeah," he glanced at the shelves of clothing. "So I really need some clothes that'll last long and won't get messed up easily, 'cause I gotta train hard if I'm gonna be the Hokage one day."

"That's true," she agreed. "If you want to be better than Yondaime, then you need to train harder than ever."

"That's why I'm here. Do you have any clothes with weights?" He fumbled with a pair of black shorts on the rack in front of him. "I heard that wearing weights makes you stronger and faster." _More like Kyuubi yelled at me for a month straight about getting them_, he recalled, thinking of when the Kyuubi first told him to get weights if he was trying to become a serious ninja.

"You would already know that, wouldn't you?" The girl asked, frowning at him.

He frowned back at her. "What do you mean?"

"I've been a ninja for a year now, and I work with two freaks who are obsessed with taijutsu. I can tell you've been wearing weights for a long time. You carry yourself differently than other people do."

"Oh." He glanced down at himself. "Well…"

_**Stupid brat. **_

Naruto ignored him. "So are you gonna help me or not?"

"You really need help?" She stared at him with an incredulous look on her face.

Naruto crossed his arms and scowled. "Well, I've never been to a real store before. All my clothes are hand-me-downs, and my weights were always just bags of rice that I put in my pockets or strapped around my arms and legs. I don't really know about clothes that are tailor-made for it, or what official weights are like or how to use them."

"Why have you been wearing--" She saw the disgruntled expression on his face and broke off, turning instead to the shelves. "I won't ask, it seems like a sensitive subject. So, Naruto-kun, here's what I suggest…"

* * *

The next day, Naruto arrived at the bridge at exactly 7:01 A.M.--a total of sixty-one minutes past the time Kakashi had insisted they arrive. As he'd expected, the silver-haired jounin was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke was leaning against one of the railings, propped up on his elbows. Sakura was next to him, though at a surprisingly impersonal distance of a whopping _six _inches compared to her usual smothering proximity.

Naruto had expected Sakura to yell at him, and she opened her mouth and raised her hand as if to do just that, but suddenly frowned and stared at him with a perplexed look on her face. "Naruto, you changed your clothes."

Naruto looked down. Yup. His clothes were different. Imagine that. _**My, she's sharp, isn't she? **_Naruto sent the fox a mental glare and smiled at his crush. "Yep. I bought it with my paycheck. I'm pretty hot, huh?" He looked down at himself and tugged at his shirt, admiring it. "Cost a lot of money, though…almost my whole paycheck! I barely had enough to even buy groceries…man, that clothes shop is expensive--"

"It's only expensive for dead-lasts like you," Sakura said curtly. Then her brow furrowed. "Wait, why didn't you just get your parents to buy it for you?"

Sasuke glanced at her briefly and looked away just as quickly. His mouth had set in a thin line, and his shoulders had tensed considerably. Naruto failed to notice the other boy's reaction. He smiled weakly at his pink-haired teammate. "I don't have any parents, Sakura-chan."

Her face dropped, and a look of intense guilt came over her features. "Oh, I'm sorry, Naruto. I didn't know. What happened?"

Naruto was surprised by her display of sympathy. "I never knew my parents."

"He's an orphan." Sasuke's remark was unexpected, but his tone was short and sharp. "Like me," he added, quietly.

Naruto frowned at the boy. He had heard about the Uchiha massacre, back then. But he hadn't really ever bothered to learn about it--why would he, when the victim was one of his biggest annoyances?

Sakura, however, suddenly felt out of place. Both of her parents were very much alive. One of them was currently on a mission, but it was far from dangerous, and her mother was no more than a simple housewife who made a few extra _ryo _on the side by selling pastries from her home to friends and acquaintances. Nothing spectacular. She had lived an easy, sheltered life, filled with family dinners every Sunday when possible, family game nights every Friday, and trips to the park whenever they had the time. As she entered the academy things had changed as she got more and more engrossed in her studies and her obsession with Sasuke, and she spent less time with her parents now than she ever had before--but the fact was, she still _had _them. _They_ didn't.

"I didn't know."

Naruto tried to reassure her with a smile. "Don't worry about it, Sakura-chan. I didn't tell anyone, so I couldn't really expect you to know about it."

"Then how do _you _know, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and shrugged.

"Yo!" Kakashi waved cheerily from his perch on the railing. He blinked at the absence of the chorus of _"You're LATE!" _from his two more outspoken students. They merely looked at him and scowled, but had no other reaction. _Strange…_ he thought with an internal frown, _but __I _am _earlier than usual…_

He didn't bother with an excuse. "Today I will be conducting a test."

"A test?" Sakura asked, "What kind of test, Kakashi-sensei?"

"This isn't another stupid exam, is it?" Naruto added, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kakashi glanced at him, noting the way his outfit had the subtle bulges of weights beneath them. "Nice outfit, Naruto." Naruto blinked at him. "It's been about a month since the three of you have become genin." They nodded at him. "It's been about a month since you began taking on missions and training under my supervision." They nodded again. Naruto frowned at him, almost comically. Sasuke raised a brow by a fraction of an inch. Sakura merely stared at him blankly. "So I would like to conduct a test with each of you individually to assess how much you've improved…or how little." He sent a pointed glance in Sakura's direction. She had the grace to flush in embarrassment.

"I'll be testing the three of you individually in different areas. I will also have a bit of help."

"Help?" Naruto repeated. "What kind of help?"

"Just a bit of aid from two other jounin _sensei _who happen to be experts in certain areas, and therefore, would make better judgments than I could. I will be conducting your _ninjutsu_ portion of the assessment." He saw Naruto grimace at this, and was not surprised. "A _taijutsu _specialist named Maito Gai will be conducting the _taijutsu _portion of your assessment, and a _genjutsu _specialist by the name of Yuuhi Kurenai will grade you in _genjutsu." _

He waited until the three nodded before continuing. "Sasuke, you're first with me. Naruto, go to training area 77. Sakura, training area 34."

Kakashi had grabbed onto Sasuke's shoulder and vanished in a swirl of leaves before Naruto could even open his mouth to protest the arrangements. "Damn it," he cursed, glaring at the spot they once occupied. "I wanted to ask him if he could test me in _taijutsu _instead." The very _idea _of being within ten feet of Gai was making him nauseous.

"Well," he said, turning to look at Sakura, "I guess I'll see you later, Sakura-chan!" With that said, he bounded off in the direction of training area 77 with a waved farewell.

* * *

"You--You--You're--_Tenten?!_" Naruto exclaimed, gaping at the girl sitting on the ground near a tree, polishing a set of exquisite kunai. Her head snapped up in surprise and she blinked at him, looking just as stunned as he was, and then smiled.

"Naruto-kun! What are you doing here?" She stood up, still holding a kunai in her hand, and walked towards him. "It looks good on you," she said, nodding at his outfit.

He smiled his gratitude, his cheeks tinting pink at the compliment. He wasn't complimented very often, after all. Especially not on his appearance. "Thanks, Tenten." He felt like he should have added _-san_ to the end of her name, but it didn't flow from his tongue like her name alone did. It seemed too formal, and he felt like calling her _-chan_ was being a little too familiar. "My _sensei _sent me here."

"Oh!" Her mouth formed a small _'o'_ in realization. "So _you're _part of Team Seven, then?"

He grinned. "Yup! It's too bad my _sensei _is a lazy bastard, though," he muttered. "He told me to come here so _Gai_," he spat out the name like it had left a foul taste on his tongue--and it had, "could grade me on my skills in _taijutsu. _Kakashi-sensei is giving us some stupid test to see how far we've come since we started out as genin."

"Ah, I see." She smiled at him. _Actually_, he mused, smiling almost ruefully, _she's almost always smiling. _"Well, Gai-sensei is busy with Lee right now."

As if on cue, an outcry of, _"YOU CAN NEVER FAIL IF YOU BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF YOUTH!" _erupted from somewhere in the forest around the clearing of the training area, and Tenten sighed in exasperation, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Like I said," she muttered, "he's busy with Lee right now."

Naruto groaned mentally. _I'll get you for this, Kakashi…_ "Geez… And I wanted to get this over with as soon as possible…" He shuddered. "I'd like to spend the least amount of time around him as possible. That guy's just weird. I don't know how you deal with it, Tenten."

"Me neither," she grumbled. She put the kunai back into her pouch and went to the tree to do the same with the rest. "But on the bright side, we can talk while we're waiting."

Naruto glanced at the only other person in the clearing, a boy with hair far too long for a guy dressed in a thick white jacket and plain shorts. _I know he's gotta be hot in that thing, _he thought. It _was _almost eighty degrees today. "You sure he won't mind?" He asked, noticing the way the boy had glared at him as he turned around to return to his position to practice throwing kunai. The boy had hit the bulls-eye each time, Naruto noted.

"Yeah," she said, "Neji won't mind. He always trains alone, anyway." He heard a bit of sadness in her tone. He knew the feeling. It wasn't very much fun knowing that your teammates wanted nothing to do with you.

"But what about you?" He asked, "Don't _you _need to train too?"

"I don't usually train much here," she said truthfully, frowning. "I can't really train with the kind of fighting style I use with other people around. Gai-sensei mostly just has me practice taijutsu or spar with Lee, and then when I go home my dad trains me if he's free to, or I train by myself in our backyard, or our dojo--"

"You have a _dojo_?!" Naruto stared at her in shock. "You must be pretty rich!"

She smirked at him, but it wasn't like Sasuke's arrogant one, but rather mirthful. Amused. "Well, sort of. My dad owns the most popular weapon shop in Konoha, after all. A while ago he signed a deal with the ANBU, so we get a lot of business from them."

"Ah," he nodded. It made sense. He had seen a couple of familiar looking armguards in her shop, and had wondered where they'd come from. Now that she'd said that, he realized it was the same kind of armguards that were part of the ANBU uniforms. "I bet you live in some kinda mansion, huh?" He grinned as he said this, and sat down with her at the tree she had been seated under before he'd interrupted her kunai-polishing.

"Not really. It's just an old martial arts dojo that my grandfather used to own. He used to teach kendo," she said, smiling. "When I was younger I would sit against the wall and watch him teach his classes. I thought it was so cool. That's why I wanted to become a ninja at first."

"Really?" He smiled. "That's cool. I was kinda like that too. Sort of. I wanted to become a ninja because of Hokage-jiji."

"_Jiji_?" She repeated, "He's your grandfather?"

"No, no, no! An adopted grandfather, more like. He took care of me. I wanted to be like him, you know? Protecting his loved ones as the strongest ninja in Konoha. He was always so nice to me, even though everyone else seemed to hate me. He cares about everybody in the village. He's like the _whole village's _grandfather, really. I wanted to be like him. That's why I want to be the Hokage."

"I thought it was because of Yondaime…"

"Him too," Naruto admitted. "He's the strongest of all Kage. He defeated a demon lord, after all. I want to be a Hokage like Hokage-_jiji_, one that cares about everybody, but I also want to be as strong as the Yondaime."

"I want to be like Tsunade-sama."

"Tsunade-sama?" He glanced at her in confusion, looking away from the canopy of trees above them. "Who's that?"

"Who?! _Who?! _You don't know who Tsunade is?!"

He was so startled by her reaction that he scrambled back into the trunk of the tree and pressed himself against it. He held up his hands in mock surrender and gave her a sheepish grin. "_Should _I know?"

"Duh! Did you ever pay attention in the academy?!"

Naruto averted his eyes and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Well, not really…I mean, I did, but most of the time I tuned him out because I already knew everything."

"Obviously you didn't if you don't even know about Tsunade-sama! Do you know about Jiraiya? Or _Orochimaru_, at least?"

Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine. His stomach clenched and tied itself into knots. He could barely repress the pained grimace that threatened to overcome him. _What the hel__l--?!_

"Uh…no," he said, slowly.

"They're the strongest ninja from Konoha other than the Hokage himself! They're known as the three _Sannins_. Tsunade-sama is the best medic-nin in the entire Country of Fire--hell, maybe even the whole _world_!"

_Geez, she sounds like Sakura when she's talking about Sasuke… _"Sorry, but I've never heard of them." He shrank under her glare. "I'll look it up when I get home! Tsunade must be something else to gain such admiration from _you_, Tenten."

She seemed slightly placated by his remark. "That's Tsunade-_sama_ to you," she said, but her tone was not as sharp as it had been earlier.

"O-_ho!_ Look who we have here! A young man radiating such youth rival that of my own!"

Naruto kept himself from groaning as the two spandex-clad ninjas appeared in the clearing before them.

"Lee!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei?!"

"Go! I want you to do five hundred laps around this area!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei! And if I do not complete it," the mini-Gai exclaimed, even as he legs started pumping to prepare for his run, "I will do five hundred sit-ups and push-ups!" The boy pumped a fist in the air and let out a loud howl of _"YOOOOSHHHH!" _and took off in the direction of the western edge of the clearing to start his so-called _training. _

Naruto could not hold back the grimace as he watched the boy practically _skip_ away from them.

"Now! I am your temporary _sensei_, Maito Gai! I will be conducting your test today in _taijutsu!_ With a _sensei_ as hip as Kakashi," _Did he just say…_hip_?! Who says that?! _"The flames of youth must be burning strong within you! I look forward to our spar! Tell me, youthful boy! What is your name?!"

"Kakashi-sensei didn't tell you?" Gai did not respond. His disturbingly _perfect_ grin was plastered firmly on his features. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto," he droned, repressing the urge to roll his eyes. "Can we get this over with already? I'm hungry, I want some ramen." _More like I just don't wanna be here._

"Ah, I was right! The flames of youth burn strong in you, Uzumaki Naruto-kun! Now! Come!"

Naruto shook his head and stood. With a sigh and a roll of his neck to loosen the tense muscles, he sprang forward.

-+-+-+-

"My name is Yuuhi Kurenai," the woman stated. "And I will be testing you on your skills in detecting and dispelling _genjutsu_." The woman had long, wavy hair that was thick and full and almost made Sakura jealous--she would _die _for hair that was that easy to make look good--and red eyes that seemed to penetrate into Sakura's very soul. Sakura had a feeling they could see _everything_.

"Yes, Kurenai-sensei."

Kurenai had been alone at the clearing when Sakura made her appearance at training area 34. Sakura had almost expected the woman to have her team with her. _Maybe she gave them the day off? _She pondered, but quickly shook the thought out of her head as the woman began to speak again.

"The test will last for the duration of forty-five minutes." Sakura frowned. _A time limit? _"First, I want you to tell me what knowledge you have of _genjutsu, _and which ones you can perform at this moment."

Sakura nodded. "Well…We didn't spend much time on _genjutsu _in the academy. But I remember that _genjutsu _are illusionary techniques, meant to deceive the opponent into experiencing something that is not real. They can be used to make a person feel, smell, taste, see, or hear things that aren't reality. The aim of _genjutsu_ is to twist a person's perception of reality."

"Very good. What are the ways to cancel a _genjutsu?_ I expect you to name at least two if you expect to prove yourself proficient in your knowledge."

"There are three different ways," Sakura said. Her confidence grew as she began to recall the words of Iruka during their lesson on the art of _genjutsu_. "The first is to disrupt your chakra flow. The _genjutsu _relies on your own chakra to create the illusion, so if you can recognize that you have been put under an illusion, and disrupt the flow of your chakra, the _genjutsu _will be canceled. The second is to inflict an extreme amount of pain to the victim's physical body to bring them out of their consciousness. The third is for someone else to interfere with the _genjutsu _by using their chakra to disrupt the chakra flow of the victim."

_Impressive_, Kurenai noted, with a slight raise of her brow. _She's extremely intelligent. _"My final question: There are individuals that are less susceptible to falling under the influence of a _genju__tsu_, and also those who are naturally more inclined to wield it as a weapon. Name the qualities of these individuals."

"Those with high intelligence are able to resist _genjutsu_, because they generally pay exceptional attention to detail. They are also able to execute more complicated _genjutsu _much easier than those with simpler minds because of that quality. Those with _doujutsu _can easily recognize _genjutsu _and counter it as well because of their enhanced abilities."

Kurenai smirked. _Very intelligent, indeed. But book-smarts mean nothing in the middle of battle. Let's see if she can put her knowledge to practical use on the battlefield._

"Very good, Haruno." Sakura couldn't remember telling the woman her name. "You're more intelligent--"

Sakura suddenly felt a pain in her chest and gripped at it, collapsing to her knees.

"--Than I expected."

The woman's voice echoed loudly in her ears. It seemed to come from every direction, from all around her. Sakura opened her eyes slowly. Her vision was red from clenching them shut so tightly.

As her vision cleared, she looked around her. _The forest…_

It had changed. What had once been a flourishing forest filled with the bright greens of trees in the prime of summer had become what looked like a graveyard. The ground, once green and soft with fresh, crisp grass, had become gray and cracked, parched from drought. The trees had been decimated as though torn apart by some god-like force. They were starch-white, the color of decay. There were lying broken and rotting on the forest floor than there were standing. And even those standing were slumped over and wilting, or with thick branches snapped off or hanging by no more than a thread.

It was like walking into a cemetery of foliage.

She closed her eyes.

_This isn't real. This isn't real. _

She ignored the pungent smell of rotting wood and mold and fungus. She disregarded the rough, biting feel of the jagged ground beneath her on her skin. She threw away the chill that swept through the trees, the bone-chilling gusts of wind that reached her very core.

_It's summer, _she convinced herself. _This forest was alive. We haven't had a drought in ten years. _

_This isn't real. _

She opened her eyes and stared straight ahead at the trunk of the largest living tree in this forest--if it could even be called that. _This isn't real. _

She removed her hand from the death-like grip it had upon the fabric covering her chest and ignored the pain that ripped through her in its absence. She brought her hands together to form the _ohitsuji _seal and closed her eyes once more. She struggled to push away the pain that threatened to overwhelm her. She pushed away the confusion, the agony, the overall disorientation that resulted from the simple _genjutsu _she had been placed under.

She felt for her chakra. Waited. Waited for her chance, for that moment where the chakra showed where it was being manipulated.

_There!_

"_Kai!" _

-+-+-+-

"Well, Sasuke." Kakashi said, extracting his favorite orange-covered book from his scroll pouch. "You see that log there?"

The jounin pointed to a worn-down log that sat in the middle of the clearing, marred by dents and its surface cracked from years of beatings given by ninjas from genin to jounin to the ANBU who protected them. It begged to be replaced.

"What about it?"

Kakashi giggled. Sasuke glared.

"Direct every _ninjutsu_ you know toward that log. I will grade you based on your performance and the amount you know."

Sasuke scowled. Figured Kakashi would take the easy way out. He turned his eyes to the log and glared holes in it. What would fighting a _log_ gain him? _Nothing. This is pointless. This is pointless and stupid. _His hands flashed as he formed the seals to perform his grandest known _jutsu_.

He placed his finger in front of his mouth to direct it. _I'll destroy that log in one move. Then he'll have to train me seriously. _His eyes narrowed. He took a deep breath.

And he blew.

The air roared and crackled with the explosion of fire that erupted from his throat.

"_Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"_

* * *

Kakashi frowned at the results. Nothing much had changed. Sasuke was still far too arrogant to put forth his best effort in the tests he had been given. He had excelled in the _ninjutsu _and _taijutsu _portions of his _exam_, as Kakashi liked to call it, but his _genjutsu _skills had gone no further than knowing that _genjutsu _meant "illusion" and only one way to properly dispel it. But he had had the best time as far as detecting it had gone. Sakura had him beat in knowledge easily, but it had taken her longer to dispel it due to her weaknesses.

In _taijutsu_, Naruto had done better than Kakashi had expected, but Gai had left an interesting note on his report. _"His flames of youth burn strong, but something has smothered it and it does little more than crackle! Kakashi, my eternal rival--" _Kakashi had stopped reading there. Sasuke had the best scores in _taijutsu_, and had even gotten Gai to fight against him half-seriously. Gai had left Kakashi a note telling him not to let his _"youth" _go untrained, and even suggested that he send Sasuke to him for more advanced training. Kakashi refused to let his students undergo that kind of torture. He was cruel, but not _that _cruel. Gai had been predictably disappointed in Sakura's performance in hand-to-hand combat. Kakashi had expected that.

In _ninjutsu, _Naruto had been graded far above Sasuke, surprisingly enough. Sasuke had quite the grasp of _ninjutsu_, but instead of following directions as he'd been told, he simply used his most powerful (and also most redundant) _ninjutsu _to destroy the log and declare that the test was over without even bothering to listen to Kakashi's impending lecture. Naruto however, had sheepishly told him that he only knew a few. He performed his _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_, of course--Kakashi had been impressed with the sheer amount of clones Naruto had made (he'd lost count at two hundred thirty-six), and far more impressed with the fact that Naruto had even invented his _own _jutsu, perverted as it was. Sakura had been no better than average. She knew all academy _ninjutsu_, but no more. However, she could execute each one flawlessly, and without any waste, which Naruto and Sasuke both had quite the issue with.

He sighed, and leaned back in his chair. He ignored the purple-haired special task force jounin's skeptical look beside him, and her following inquiry of, _"Who the hell pissed in your stir-fry?" _, and stared bleakly at the ceiling above him.

_Why did I ever accept this job?_

****

"Jyuu-nin To Iro" -- "Ten people and colors". Meaning: "Different strokes for different folks". Refers to Team Seven's varying ability in different areas; their different strengths and weaknesses. Sakura's intelligence for genjutsu, Naruto's abilities in ninjutsu, Sasuke's skills in taijutsu. They are each strong in their own areas, but they also have their weaknesses to contrast that. The chapter is titled this way because Kakashi's assessment was purposed to decide which areas still needed improvement in each of his students, and how badly they needed said improvements. I wonder if the explanation helps or just makes it more confusing...bah, draw your own conclusions.

****

_A/N: (to readers)_

_My, long chapter, wasn't it? It took a couple of hours to write, too…I hope that you enjoyed it. There wasn't any of the usual bickering between Kyuubi and Naruto this time, but it didn't really fit in with what was happening in this chapter. Don't worry though, it'll be back by the time I upload the next chapter! What's a good story without humour, eh? _

_**A/N: (To Vilkath)**_

_If you want me to respond to the entirety of your review, PM me. As it is, it's far too long to respond to in a chapter. I had it all written out, but it took up about half a page, and I'm not going to post something so long just for the sake of continuing a squabble between us. Makes sense right? PM me if you wish to discuss things further. I appreciate your reviews, though, they are helping me to understand what needs to be improved in my story. _

_Review, review, review!_


	5. Atama no Kaiten ga Hayai

**A/N: Gah, sorry for the lateness again guys. But it took me FOREVER to write this chapter. I must have rewritten it at least five times before I finally decided to go with this version. Hope it's not TOO awful...next chapter will be better, I promise!**

**Also, a certain someone asked for the ANBU from before to make an appearance...wish granted!**

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

_--"Atama no Kaiten ga Hayai"--_

The low, fierce rumble of a growl cut through the silence.

"Aw, damn it." A blonde boy, clad only in a pair of boxers and a baggy black t-shirt pouted pathetically at his empty cabinet--which he _still _had to stand on his tip-toes to see inside of. He had climbed desperately onto the counter of his kitchen to peer into the hopelessly dark depths of his ramen storage--to find it barren, and very much _void _of his favorite food.

Disbelieving, he grunted and stuck his hand all the way inside until it touched the wooden panel and moved his arm from side to side to confirm what he had already feared.

He had no ramen.

The growl permeated the air once again, forceful and insistent. _**"Feed me!" **_It was saying.

Naruto clutched at his stomach and grimaced at the painful tightening of the muscles. He felt like his stomach was shrinking, shriveling up to the size of a raisin. He sighed heavily, rubbed his temple to fend off the headache steadily developing, and jumped down off the kitchen counter.

He crossed the room to enter his bedroom and pulled open the top-most drawer of his dresser. To the left of his underwear, and the under-shirts that he sometimes wore while training to lessen the smell of his sweat, was a frog-plush coin purse--not that he would admit to it being anything other than a _wallet_, of course.

He flicked open the metal clasp and peered inside. There were a few coins and only one ragged, crumpled bill that was faded and looked as though it had seen its last days in circulation long, long ago. But it was _money. _He pulled out the bill and frowned deeply. It was ripped more than halfway down the center.

"I could tape it," he said aloud, to no one in particular. He glanced at the top of his desk, which he sometimes studied at--when he _did _study, that was--a rare occurrence indeed. Sitting just next to the short, black desk lamp was a small tape dispenser, with just barely a bit of tape left upon it. He couldn't actually remember what he'd used it for anymore. Nevertheless, he taped his bill worth only a measly five hundred _ryo_ and pulled on a pair of bright orange pants--he didn't _care_ what the Kyuubi thought, he _liked _the color orange and he'd wear it if he wanted to…outside of missions, anyway.

As soon as he stepped onto the balcony adjoined to his decrepit apartment--which thankfully, he had fixed up recently, as it looked near to the point of collapse--he sighed in resignation, holding his frog wallet in his hand, the crumpled, poorly taped bill in the other. "Who am I kidding?" He muttered, leaning against the railing, "No storeowner is gonna accept this bill."

_Especially not in a grocery store, _he added mentally. Teuchi might have accepted it at Ichiraku's--he was nice and kind and had often given Naruto free bowls of ramen when he was short on money and looking particularly starved--but not a grocery store owner. Never them. That was why Naruto always put off shopping for groceries until the last minute. More often than not, he'd be chased out, ducking from flying pots and pans, or knives and other sharp objects, and one time they even threw an entire trashcan at him, filled with decaying meat and rotting cabbage, among other such unnamable things.

He didn't even want to _think _what would happen if he tried giving them such a tired-looking bill as the one he had clutched between his fingers now.

_**Go get a mission, brat. **_

Naruto scowled. _I can't get a mission by myself, stupid. _

_**Then ask your little friends to tag along. **_

_I'd need Kakashi, too, _Naruto replied. Then, as an afterthought, he added: _Besides, Sasuke and Sakura wouldn't trade in their off-days just so I could earn a little money. _

_**Surprise, surprise--they won't do anything for you. Who would've thought?**_

_Shut up, Kyuubi. I'm not in the mood. _

In his mind, the fox demon sighed. _**You need to get over this depression of yours, brat. You're making **_**me **_**depressed. Making fun of you is the only thing that makes this prison halfway tolerable. **_

_Gee, thanks. I'm glad you get so much pleasure from my pain. _

_**I try. **_

Naruto rolled his eyes and tugged on his boots, leaping down from his balcony and onto the street below. "Bah!" He exclaimed, brushing off the Kyuubi's ability to piss him off at the worst of times. "I gotta figure out a way to ignore that guy someday."

_**You should really stop talking to yourself. Can't be doing much for your reputation. **_

Naruto glared at the back of a woman's head in front of him as a substitute for the fox sealed in his belly. _Ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore him. _He rejoiced inwardly at Kyuubi's silence.

He had only been walking for a few minutes when he found himself in front of a store with a very familiar looking name. Which was strange, because he couldn't remember ever walking down this street before--at least, not at such a leisurely pace that he could actually _look _at the stores he was bypassing.

"Yamanaka?" He mumbled, staring up at the sign. It was quite lavishly made--for something of a man's creation, that was. The letter twisted and curled and looped and were, overall, very girly, very feminine, and gave off a very _'Rich People Only' _aura about the store. They almost looked like pure white, angelic vines, with small pink blossoms blooming from random parts of each letter of the shop's name.

_**Gotta give it to 'em, it's creative. **_

_My__, my, _Naruto replied, smiling a bit smugly. _Who would've thought--a Demon lord thinking something a _human _made as pretty. _

_**I never said it was pretty. **_

Naruto got the feeling that the fox was sulking, and he burst into uncontrolled laughter. Then he heard the mutterings of the surrounding villagers and stifled it quickly. Laughing out loud for no particular reason on a crowded street when you were the container of a Demon lord who had killed most of said villager's relatives and friends and perhaps destroyed their homes and everything they knew completely was not a good idea.

He coughed into his hand and looked away from them as they glared at him, then took the easiest escape route and dashed into the open door of the flower shop that was _Boutique de Yamanaka. _He didn't understand the first two words of the name, but he knew that _Yamanaka _was definitely something familiar.

"_Irrashai!" _Came the chipper call of the employee standing at the front counter at the back of the shop, placed in the middle of the far wall. It wasn't necessarily a _large _store--not by any means--but it _was_ fairly populated with flowers of all kinds--so many that all the different scents made Naruto's head swim--and also fairly populated with _people_, customers.

He nearly cringed at the sight of other people in the shop--but they glanced at him and looked away, and only one of them even took the time to throw a glare in his direction. He didn't know which was worse--their hate-filled glares or the _You're-Not-Even-Worth-My-Time _expressions from the haughty-looking customers. He shrugged and stowed it away in the _Who-Gives-A-Shit _cabin of his disorganized thoughts closet.

And standing at the front counter, staring at him with wide-eyes and almost in a comically _Deer-In-The-Line-Of-Fire _way were two all-too-familiar faces. A voluptuous blonde that Kyuubi had often told him he'd be more intelligent to place his affections upon, and the _actual_ object of his affections, his pink-haired, emerald-eyed teammate.

He smiled disarmingly at them and walked towards them, all the while exclaiming an all-too-loud greeting of, "I knew I remembered the name Yamanaka from somewhere!"

"Naruto?" The girls said. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just dropping by," Naruto replied, waving a hand dismissively with a roll of his eyes. Then he smiled and said, "No, really, I was just walking past and thought the name looked familiar. I didn't realize it was you though, Ino."

Ino nodded numbly. She was staring at him oddly. Naruto wasn't quite sure he was comfortable with the weird look she was giving him. "What? Is there a stain on my shirt or something?" Naruto pulled on the hem of his t-shirt and stretched it out to inspect it--nope, no stain.

"No, you just look different." She turned to Sakura, "You didn't tell me he got a fashion sense!"

Naruto cringed, "I'm right _here_, y'know."

Ino glanced at him with a look that said, _'Oh, come on,' _"Sorry to tell you, Naruto, but your outfit was atrocious."

He shrugged carelessly. "Eh, what can ya do?" He glanced at Sakura. "What are _you _doing here, Sakura-chan?"

"Ino is my friend," she said in explanation.

"Che, yeah _right_, forehead."

Sakura shot a glare at her. "You shouldn't say mean things to your friends, Ino," Naruto said, smiling. "Weren't you two really close a couple of years ago?" The two girls glanced at each other almost guiltily, then looked away just as quickly. He sighed.

The growl returned. "Oh, crap. I forgot. I was on my way to get some food." He grinned at Sakura. "Wanna come with me, Sakura-chan?"

"_No_," she retorted forcefully. "I have more important things to do."

_Doesn't look like it to me,_ he thought with a mental frown. "Okay then," he answered. "I'll see you tomorrow morning." He threw a wave behind his back as he left and ran to the street in the direction of his favorite restaurant. _Ichiraku's it is, I guess. _

* * *

"_Oi, Teuchi!" _

The old man recognized the voice instantly--it was the voice of his very best customer. He'd been serving the boy for years, probably since the beginning of his years at the Academy, and he had grown rather fond of him in the time he'd known him. "Ah, Naruto! I almost didn't recognize you, I haven't seen you in so long!"

"Eh, sorry, sorry, Teuchi." Naruto apologized, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish smile. "I just haven't had the time ever since I got promoted to Genin. Been busy with missions and training and stuff…"

"It's fine, Naruto," the man answered, smiling at him. "The usual?"

"Yup, miso ramen as always!"

Teuchi yelled an order back to the cooks under his employment and turned back to Naruto. "So Naruto, how's the Genin life been treating you?"

"Okay, I guess," Naruto admitted, sighing softly. "But it's getting kind of boring lately, what with all these stupid D-rank missions. I'm tired of weeding lawns and catching that fat lady's cat. I wanna do something _useful _for once, you know, something at _least_ C-rank. I've been Genin for an entire month now, Kakashi-sensei needs to get off his lazy ass and get us a _real _mission."

"Are you sure you're ready for it?"

"Of _course_ I'm ready for it! I've been training really hard lately, but I don't think Kakashi-sensei has noticed it. He just _had _to do the assessment on the day I decided to increase the weights I was wearing. I was way too slow, and I was off-balance the whole time--I couldn't do _anything_ right during the _taijutsu_ part. I bet he thinks I'm useless just like the rest of 'em."

"Well, you'll get your chance." Teuchi placed a steaming-hot bowl of miso ramen in front of him and a pair of chopsticks. His eyes flickered briefly to the opening of the stand, widening slightly--Naruto failed to notice, too occupied was he with his lunch.

It was only when the customer took a seat right next to him that he realized that something was up. Usually when he came to Ichiraku's, the other customers sat as far away from him as possible, like sitting within ten feet of him would infect them with some sort of disease. He glanced over at the man over the rim of his bowl as he lifted it to his mouth to drink the soup and nearly snorted it through his nose in his surprise.

"It's you!"

The man beside him glanced at him. "Hm?"

"It's you! The guy from the woods! That one night, with Mizuki!" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the masked ninja. "Hey, now…you promised me some gear the next time I saw you."

The man laughed heartily. "Well, well, you sure have a knack for remembering people, don't you?"

"I never forget a face," Naruto replied proudly.

The ANBU member removed his mask, giving Naruto the first good look at him since the incident--though at that time, he hadn't been able to see the man well due to the darkness of the forest. He was surprised that the ANBU was so young, he had expected him to at least be in his thirties or so--after all, ANBU was a hard rank to acquire--but he looked like he was in his early twenties. His skin was fairly tan, near Iruka's skin tone, and his hair was the same jet black as Sasuke's. His eyes, though, were a deep brown--warm and laughing.

"Good to hear, Naruto. That'll be quite useful when you reach your goal of becoming Hokage."

Naruto raised a brow. "How did you know about that?"

"You're more than loud enough for everyone in this town to know about your dream, Naruto," the man answered. Then he laughed shortly, "But I was actually told by a good friend of mine. Perhaps you know of him. Hatake Kakashi?"

"_Know _him? He's my _sensei!_"

"And the esteemed Uchiha Sasuke is one of your teammates, am I right?"

"Yeah, him and Sakura-chan--" Naruto placed a skeptical glare upon the man, "Wait a minute now, what are you, a stalker?"

"No, I've just been observing you. You seem destined for great things in the future, Naruto."

"Che, I don't believe in destiny. It's a load of crap."

"Maybe--" The ANBU glanced up at Teuchi as he came to Naruto with another bowl of ramen, "--Shriimp please." Teuchi nodded and sauntered off again. "You've been a subject of interest for the ANBU for quite some time, Naruto."

"I don't like the sound of that," Naruto mumbled.

"It's not as bad as it sounds. The Hokage entrusted us with the task of watching over you while you grew--unfortunately quite a few members of our team seemed to neglect that duty."

_Yeah, no kidding. Where were you when I got beaten to a pulp all those times, huh? _

"So, what about that gear, then?"

"The gear…? Hmm…I honestly never thought of what to give you. I suppose that I could give you some of my old armor. I also have an old katana that I don't use anymore, but it's a bit out of shape…you'd have to take it in for repair before it'd be of any use--"

"Hold on a second, did you just say _katana?_"

"I believe so, yes."

"Then you know swordsmanship?!"

The man threw him a lopsided smile. "Every ANBU member is required to be knowledgeable in at least one area of swordsmanship." His eyes darted downward and Naruto followed his gaze--a sheathed sword rested on his hip. It was far longer than the kodachi that Naruto had gotten as a gift from Tenten. "Why do you ask?"

"Well…I got this gift…from a friend of mine. A _kodachi_, she called it. And I wanted to learn how to use it, but I don't know anyone who practices swordsmanship that could teach me. Instead of giving me gear, could you maybe teach me a little bit about it? Or at least help me get started?"

The man frowned at him, "Well, Naruto, honestly," he looked the boy up and down critically, "you don't really seem like the type that would be fit to use a _kodachi_. Not to say that you couldn't learn to use it--I just think you would be better suited with a sword more like mine. A _kodachi _is intended more for close combat, and you aren't very skilled in _taijutsu. _But with a katana like mine, you don't necessarily have to be well-versed in _taijutsu _to utilize it properly."

"I don't have the money."

"Like I said, I have an old katana that I don't use anymore. Just take it to the weapons shop on the far end of Market street and speak to the man who owns the shop. Tell him that you need a sword repaired. He usually likes a 24-hour notice, so when you're done eating, let him know. I'll go back to my house and get the sword, then you can meet me at his shop."

"You mean you'll really train me?"

"I don't see why not," the man said. "I would tell you to go to Kakashi, but Kakashi was never one for swords. That's more _my _area of expertise." The ANBU finished his bowl of ramen and pushed it away from him, thanking Teuchi with a grateful, satisfied smile. "You finish eating here while I go and fetch the _katana_. Be at the weapons shop in twenty minutes."

Naruto nodded numbly. _I can't believe he's actually helping me. _

The man stood and walked to the exit, but turned to give Naruto a final smile, "By the way, the name's _Akumo_."

* * *

Naruto was thoroughly disappointed with their first training session. Akumo had firmly told him that he couldn't simply just launch himself into katas without learning the basics of swordsmanship first--so the ANBU gave him a bundle of scrolls to read and a black scroll to take notes on, as well as a practice sword made of bamboo, which he had called a _shinai_. _"Can't go hurting yourself when you practice, now," _he'd said.

And so Naruto studied for an entire week before their next session, clumsily practicing the katas described in the scrolls he'd read--or rather, skimmed through and read only what he deemed to be absolutely necessary to know--with his weighted _shinai_. He also bought a _gi_ from Tenten's shop (she'd laughed at him rather rudely, but said he looked kind of good in it)to practice in.

When he showed up for their next training session, Akumo burst into laughted and greeted him with an incredulous exclamation of, "What is that _ridiculous _outfit?!"

Naruto promptly pouted at him in response. He didn't think it looked that bad--a plain black _kendogi_, consisting of a black _hakama _and _kimono_. He actually thought he looked rather sharp in it. But maybe the twin peals of laughter from both Akumo and Tenten were clues hinting that he _didn't_.

"Ah, shut up and teach me already! I'm serious about this training. I'm tired of being dead-last."

Akumo only shook his head in response, still chuckling softly. "Have you been practicing the katas?"

"Everyday for at least three hours," Naruto replied, "but my apartment is really kind of small for it. The sword kept hitting the ceiling, and I kept running into my bed."

"Maybe you should consider a bigger apartment?"

"Yeah, like I could actually afford that," Naruto retorted.

Akumo frowned, but ignored the negative statement. "Let me see how you've been doing."

Naruto launched into the katas he had been practicing, all too aware of the critical stare of his new ANBU sensei. And by the way the man was scrunching his eyebrows together like he was--he couldn't have been doing all that well.

"Your form is rather clumsy, Naruto. You'll need to practice with that before we can move onto more complicated things and start sparring…"

And so began the hellish days of his _kenjutsu _training.

* * *

"God damn it," Naruto fell onto his haunches and let out a breathless sigh of exasperation. Akumo had beaten him, _again_, in a one-on-one spar. "Why aren't I getting any better?"

Akumo sat beside him and handed him a bottle of water. "You're wrong, Naruto, you _are _getting better. You just don't realize it because you're too focused on _winning _to realize the extent of your improvement. You've excelled far beyond my expectations. We've only been training for two and a half weeks, and already you've acquired the skill of someone who's been practicing _kenjutsu_ for years."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, I'm being completely honest. You're quite talented, Naruto. A quick learner. A _very _quick learner, when you put your mind to it and apply your best efforts. I can tell you've been trying your hardest with this training, and it's paying off. You would be able to hold your own against a ninja of medium to high skill level in _kenjutsu_, I believe. Probably not against a Jounin, or anyone as strong and experienced as that, but you would do well in battle. Especially since, nowadays, not many ninjas practice the art of swordsmanship, so you would have quite the advantage over other ninjas your age and beyond."

Naruto found himself grinning uncontrollably. "Thank you so much for saying that," he said. "That means a lot to me. And the best part is, Kakashi-sensei said he thinks that we're ready for a C-rank mission! After two _long _months, I'll finally be able to do something interesting for a change! No more chasing cats or cleaning up the river."

"Yes, Kakashi did tell me about that. He said that there was a mission he was interested in. If I remember correctly, that would mean you would leave tomorrow."

"That's pretty quick, though…I haven't really had any time to prepare--wait, so it's a mission outside of the village?"

"So I've heard," Akumo replied. "But I can't tell you anymore than that. Classified information, you see."

Naruto nodded and stared up at the sky. "You know, Akumo-sensei?"

"Hm?"

"You've become like an older brother to me."

Akumo blinked at him. Naruto did not meet his gaze, he simply laid back on the grass and folded his arms behind his head, staring up at the sky above them. "I know it might sound weird and everything, but other than Hokage-_jiji_ and Iruka-sensei, there aren't really that many people I'm close to. I mean…my teammates…I think of them as friends, but we aren't really that close. Outside of missions we never spend time together, and most of the time they're calling me stupid or dead-last because sometimes I mess things up--How am I supposed to know the difference between weeds and herbs, anyway?--and Kakashi-sensei doesn't really pay too much attention to us individually."

"I understand, Naruto. You and I _have _been spending quite a bit of time together. And I have to admit that you remind me of my little brother."

"You have a little brother?"

"Not anymore," Akumo smiled sadly.

"What happened to him?"

"He was killed, twelve years ago."

"Twelve years ago…" Naruto swallowed, "By the Kyuubi?"

Akumo nodded. "Don't worry, Naruto, I don't hold it against you."

"How did he die?"

"There was a fire. At the time, I had been at the playground with a couple friends from the Academy, even though I wasn't supposed to be out so late at night. But my mom working nightshift at the hospital like usual, and my father was on a long-term mission in _Sunagakure_, so I didn't really have anything else to do. Then all of a sudden there was this crash, like an explosion. I remember it felt like my eardrums had burst, it was so loud.

"When I turned around, a fire had broken out on the west side of the village. I panicked--that's where my house was. I climbed one of the trees nearby to get a good look at what was happening, to see if my house was caught in the blaze. And it was, it was one of the worst. I ran as fast I could, but I couldn't make it in time. My brother had been asleep, he was only eight or nine at the time. When I got there, everything was in ashes. My mother was there and she was crying. I knew what had happened--there was no way my brother had survived it.

"I blamed myself for a long time. I thought my mother blamed me, too, because she suddenly was so distant from me. When father came back from his mission a couple weeks later, she told him about what happened. He broke down in tears--I'll never forget that, I'd never seen a man cry before then. But then he pulled me aside later on that night and said that nothing could have changed what happened that night, it was just the way it was. There was no way I could save him, and there was no use in me beating myself up about it. After that I blamed the Kyuubi, I blamed _you _for having it in you, but when I saw what happened in that forest there, the things Miyuki said and the way you went against him, it made me realize that I'd been pretty damn stupid to believe that you were the Kyuubi."

Naruto frowned at him, and for some reason his voice would go no higher than a whisper, "I'm sorry, Akumo. About your brother and everything."

"There's no need for you to apologize, Naruto. The past is the past, and we can't dwell on it. Dwelling on the past only makes life more miserable than it already is--we already have more than enough shit to deal with as it is, if you ask me." Naruto laughed weakly at that. "Don't worry yourself about it. I'm not worried about it anymore."

"I really remind you of him though?"

"You're a lot like him. He had the same smile you did." Akumo smiled at him warmly. "Now, get going. You'll need your rest for your mission tomorrow. And don't wear that on the mission either, or I'll come and kill you myself."

Naruto guffawed as he rose to his feet, "Of course not, how dare I violate the rules of ninja fashion?"

_**He's a good guy. **_

_Never thought you'd approve. _

_**I have my moments. **_

_What happened to you, anyway? You haven't jumped on my ass recently. _

_**Haven't had the urge, **_Kyuubi replied.

Naruto frowned. _Something's wrong, _he thought, as he made his way home. The sinking feeling in his gut only confirmed that fear. _Something's definitely wrong here…_

* * *

**_"Atama no Kaiten ga Hayai" -- Something like "Be quick; be sharp,"--referring to Naruto's ability to learn things far quicker than others when he puts forth the effort. I couldn't think of anything else that would fit this chapter..._**

**A/N: I guess this was another filler chapter if you really look at it...I _guess_. But I didn't intend it to be. I meant for Naruto to get in some training with Akumo before getting into the Wave Arc--this was the only way it seemed to work. Ugh, I'm totally disappointed with this one, honestly. I wish I could have done better with it but I couldn't think of any way to improve upon it. **

**Anyway, next chapter is the beginning of the Wave Arc. Look forward to it! **


End file.
